


An Eye for an Eye

by dratinigirl



Series: An Eye for An Eye [1]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: M/M, Past Rape/Non-con, bad end fix-it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-11 21:53:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 73,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2084475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dratinigirl/pseuds/dratinigirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years have passed since the incident in oval tower. It's hard for Aoba to draw the line between being awake and being asleep. Clear continues to torture him day in and day out without care, his better judgement shrouded by programming left by Toue's hand. That is, until a third party allows them what's needed to be free again. Now that they're both able to open their eyes and see, there's nothing left but to pick up the pieces of themselves and try to put them back together in a way that makes normal life feel possible again. (Fix-it AU to Clear's bad  end wherein Aoba's body parts are replaced with those taken off of Alphas)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Glass

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! It's been a very long time since I've tried to tackle a multi-chapter fic, but publishing this I'm already well into the draft of chapter three. So please enjoy, and be warned that there are mentions/depictions of Clear's bad end mentioned throughout the fic. This includes spoilers, mentions of rape, and mentions of torture/amputation. So please be wary in reading. Thank you!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! It's been a very long time since I've tried to tackle a multi-chapter fic, but publishing this I'm already well into the draft of chapter three. So please enjoy, and be warned that there are mentions/depictions of Clear's bad end mentioned throughout the fic. This includes spoilers, mentions of rape, and mentions of torture/amputation. So please be wary in reading. Thank you!

There’s a weight on his lap, and a sense of confusion that crept into Aoba’s just-waking mind. He couldn’t remember falling asleep. In fact, a long time ago the line between consciousness and sleep had blurred into something unintelligible. All that made a difference in the two was his presence. His voice, that never wavered from being anything but kind despite cruel words that poured from his lips. His body temperature remained ever-consistent, and touch was warm in a way that could have been comforting in some other universe. Between loving strokes came the scratch of nails probing into his flesh. It wasn’t as if there was a way for him to tell his good and bad actions apart anymore. Toue had made sure that whatever consciousness he had was left smothered by new programming, the bastard. 

Because of this, Aoba never placed blame on Clear for what he had done to his body in the pits of oval tower. He hated the things that he did, begged for an end until his will shriveled, but at the core he knew that Clear was simply unaware that he had ever done anything bad. Through every second of agony, he felt sure that the man he’d come close to (Maybe deep inside he did love him. It was confusing to think about.) felt a similar anguish underneath Toue’s wiring. Wherever that little space of light and broken music lay inside of him, Aoba knew that the real Clear remained there. What had that song been like, he wondered. He recalled the night that Clear sat on his rooftop and sang him to sleep. That’s when life had been normal.  
“Aoba!” 

The young man’s attention was drawn back to the foreign weight in his lap. As his mind drifted into focus, he was able to note his strange surroundings. The room was saturated with dust and warm air, perhaps due to the heavy sheets and blankets draped over his body. Aoba felt the thing in his lap stir, and weight was transferred to his chest.  
He opened his eyes. In front of him he caught the familiar gaze of his allmate, paws pressed to his torso and his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Aoba noticed that he had arms to reach out to him with. This wasn’t anything more than a dream, he came to realize. Though in his sleeping state he found it hard to remember how to use his own limbs. But somehow he recalled the movements required to stroke Ren’s fur; burying his palm there. A smile graced his lips as his allmate rubbed against him. Such behavior would have been strange for the real Ren, but this one was far from the one he knew. His presence was more than welcome however. 

Aoba raised the mechanical pup into his arms, cradling him. “Ren... I missed you.” He breathed. For a dream, he noted that his voice was unusually hollow. He could barely remember what it had been like, all that time ago. For the moment he focused on the feeling of his partner in his arms, and this he could at least recall.

“I missed you too, Aoba.” The canine model admitted. “I’m so glad that you’re back now.” 

“Yeah...” Aoba sighed, saddened by the lucidity of his dream. He hoped that Clear would come to wake him up soon, or else he’d depress himself with these memories of his companion.

As if on cue, a click echoed from the door on the opposite end of the room. As he waited for his dream-enabled vision to fade into black, he was surprised to find it pure as ever. He felt as if he could see better than ever before, but his vision was incomplete in a way that he couldn’t place. Aoba turned towards the door, and blinked when the lenses of a mask poked out from behind the wood. He felt another twitch of grief in his stomach when the old sight of Clear’s gas mask came flying back to him. He’d never worn it again after he’d been reprogrammed. Aoba had come to believe that Toue had tossed it away. 

Clear’s apparition approached him, and Aoba suddenly became unsettled by the mask. He wanted to see Clear’s face more than anything. A very real anxiety settled into his stomach as he was forced to stare into the blank expression of the gasmask. Though he tried to scramble in a state of panic, Aoba was unused to the feeling of limbs weighing him down, causing him to fall back onto the bed. He startled Ren in the process, and the allmate hopped to sit under his elbow instead. The feel of his fur was enough to bring Aoba back down from his spike of panic.

“Aoba-san, please be calm.” Came Clear’s voice from under the mask. Hearing the familiar tone gave him some relief. At least this wasn’t a stranger, or one of the other androids. “You’re not going to be used to them just yet, you’ve got to give yourself time to adjust properly.” 

Aoba blinked. With one eye, he blinked. The other was covered in something soft; and light didn’t filter through. He felt a crawling sensation in his shoulders, and no longer felt so sure that he was living in a dream.

His one eye wide, Aoba hefted up his arms. No, these weren’t his at all. Each proved to be a different color, and neither matched his natural flesh tone. They were much too pale; closer to Clear’s in color. His focus turned in to see his legs, he noticed the same was true of them. Shaking he lifted the strange hand to feel his face. These fingers were sensitive, but he was positive that this face belonged to him. 

Beads of cold sweat ran down his body, and there was a distinct difference in feeling between his body and that of the limbs that had somehow been attached to the stumps Clear had left in trying to ‘perfect’ him. Aoba turned to the masked man that sat hunched over the bed’s side. 

“...What is this?” His voice rattled out like his throat were a tin can. Clear hurriedly reached into the pockets of his coat, pulling out a bottle of fresh water. He said nothing, only offering it to Aoba. His expression was impossible to read beneath his mask. Was he worried? Was he smiling or angry or completely without emotion? Aoba didn’t like to play this guessing game. Clear wore his emotions on his sleeve and seeing him like this struck fear in Aoba’s heart.

Finally he reached out and took the bottle, perturbed by the silence about them. He took a sip, and his throat ignited with thirst. Before he knew it he was choking and soaked with half the bottle of water; dropped straight from his new hand. Clear jumped and put his hands out as if to help, but did not reach to touch the human’s body. 

“Aoba-san, are you alright?” He questioned in haste. Aoba continued to hack the water in his throat for a few seconds before he could respond. 

“Y-yeah...” He replied, voice considerably stronger than it had been. 

“...Are your arms working, then?” The machine asked in a small voice. Aoba could tell that he wasn’t looking at him, even through the lenses of the mask.  
Experimentally, the human held out his arms. They felt too heavy for his weakened body, and they likely were, but they worked to the point where he could flex his fingers to open and shut. “Mm. They... Work.” Aoba paused. “Why do I have arms now?” He asked, almost like a child. Clear twitched. 

“...Toue’s new programming malfunctioned.” He muttered after a pause. “I realized the terrible things that I was doing to you Aoba-san, and I did my best to replace what I’d taken before it was too late.” As he spoke, his voice grew closer to tears. “I’m so glad that you can actually use them, you wouldn’t wake up until now, and I worked so hard to smuggle in the parts for you.” 

“So, they’re... Metal? Alpha parts?” Aoba questioned. Curiously he tried to remember how to flex his toes, surprised when they jumped to his command. Clear’s head sank deeper between his shoulders, and Aoba was surprised to see his old scarf wrapped over his shoulders again.

“Yes. Aoba-san, I’m sorry they don’t look normal, I did the best I could, I swear that I did.” He was definitely crying now, tears welling up and dripping out of his mask. “I’m so sorry Aoba-san, there’s nothing I can do to make it better again, I tried so hard...” He hiccupped. This was more like the Clear he remembered, his emotions bubbling out at a moment’s notice. 

Aoba blinked, slowly. “What are you sorry about? It isn’t your fault.” He breathed. Well, not his fault directly. He’d been the one to rip Aoba apart, but not the one who broke his mind to think it was alright to do so. He saw Clear’s head jerk up, and heard Ren shift on the other side of him. There was a prolonged silence that fell over them. 

“...Huh?” The android sputtered. “Aoba-san, what...?” Clear’s voice trembled, and through the mask he was barely audible.  
Aoba sighed through his nose. “It isn’t your fault. Toue was the one to reprogram you the way that he did, right? And you’ve done your best to fix it.” He felt his lungs grow tired from the sudden length of speaking. Which was well enough, as Clear didn’t respond. For a moment Aoba continued to command his limbs to move, twiddling his fingers nervously. This man felt like the Clear he’d known before, but there was no knowing when his clothes would be stripped off and he’d be placed until the touch of his glove and scalpel again. 

“Aoba-san, that doesn’t make any sense. I did all of those awful things to you, and I never even thought twice about it. I thought that I was helping you. It’s not fair for you to just forgive me for what... For all the things I did.” Words came shaking out of his mouth only to echo through the mask. 

“That’s true.” Aoba replied. “But you’ve done your best to fix what you can, haven’t you?” He asked, motioning to his limbs. This couldn’t replace the pain and fear, the rape or the hollow words Clear had spoken to him, but this was a start if anything. 

“Stop it!” Clear’s voice cut through the air, and Aoba felt his new limbs spasm. Ren hopped onto his legs protectively. But the white-haired man didn’t move to threaten him, instead he curled up into his body like a child. “You aren’t supposed to forgive me like this, I wanted you to make me hurt like I did to you Aoba-san, I don’t deserve anything else. I tried my hardest to punish myself for everything I’ve done, but it isn’t the same... So please, Aoba-san, don’t treat me like this... I don’t deserve to be alive like this.” 

Aoba sighed again. He listened to Clear break down, voice cracking and tears pooling in the lips and ridges of his gasmask to drip out of the bottom. Dark stains littered his scarf and coat from the drops. 

“...Is that so?” He asked. “Then... As punishment, I’ll remove something important to you, Clear.” 

There was a click, and a loud clatter. The mask crashed to the ground, lenses shattering after Aoba unlatched it from the man’s head. He wanted to pull his hands back at the sight beneath, but he seemed to lose the memory of how to pull them. So they dropped wherever gravity pulled them, and Aoba was left with a loose jaw. 

Clear begrudgingly lifted his head, looking at Aoba for the first time since he’d entered the room. One eye met another, and a black crevice in his face gaped where the other had once been. Willing one hand, Aoba put his finger to the eye that had ended up in his skull, and things settled into place. 

“Eye parts were hard to come by. People noticed when they went missing. I thought that... I thought that causing myself some kind of pain that you went through was only fair.” Clear’s whole body trembled as he confessed, looking into his severed eye that rest in Aoba’s socket. “It was hard to connect, but my nerves are identical to a human’s, so I only had to bring up records on how to reattach it. I hope that it’s good enough, Aoba-san.” 

“Clear...” Aoba felt his eye, noting the superior quality to the ones he’d possessed before. His lid fell over it partially, and he reached out to touch the white mop of hair that that been obscured by the mask. “Thank you for this. It means so much to me.” He smiled, looking into his eye’s partner on side of the bed. 

With that, the android came undone. He clasped Aoba’s hand in his own, taking it from his hair and sobbing with it pressed to his face. He blubbered every form of apology that he could muster, and Aoba only murmured small responses. Watching tears roll out of that one eye that remained, he didn’t feel afraid of the man in front of him. Rather, his stomach stirred with elation. Maybe now there could be some sort of normalcy in his life again, and Clear could be normal, and he could feel alive again. Surely there was something that could be made from this, whatever it was. 

Aoba felt Ren’s body press up against him again, and his and Clear’s eye pushed tears out onto his face.


	2. Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, quick update because I'm actually five chapters into this already, I just don't want to release all of them at the same time. Warnings for more descriptions of things that occurred in Clear's bad end, so please be wary as you read.

“Aoba-san, please try to stand up.” Clear’s eye was still red while he spoke. He’d sobbed into Aoba’s body for hours it seemed, and now his voice was hoarse from the volume of apologies he’d shouted into the still air of this place. Aoba assumed it to be Clear’s home, but he couldn’t know the location of it for sure. He had dozens of questions pushing to jump out of his throat; but he wanted to put Clear’s handiwork to the test before interrogating him. His legs trembled as he tried to lift them. They were heavy, and while the limbs worked well, his hips and upper thighs couldn't hold them up. He found it easy to bend his knees or roll his feet. 

After what felt like an age of adjustment, he managed to swing his legs over the side of the bed. From then on he found that he could rely in the strength of his artificial limbs as opposed to what was left of his original body, still frail and starved. But these new knees were strong and capable of supporting him. Coming to stand was more or less a balancing act; and Aoba found himself waving his arms to keep from falling on his ass. Cold air rushed over his naked form, and the difference in sensation between every part of his body was almost enough to give him a headache. 

“Aoba, you seem overwhelmed. Perhaps you should wait until later, you just woke up.” Ren interjected, standing at the end of the bed. He could read the strain on Aoba’s mind as well as all of the different sensations came barreling into him at once. The blue-haired man shook his head in response, confident in finding control in his altered body.  
Clear kept his hand at the ready to catch Aoba’s body if it came tumbling down, but again, he did not touch or offer physical support. He only watched as Aoba steadied himself. 

“I feel taller...” He noted. Clear nodded his head in reply. 

“There aren't a lot of models that come made in your height. I was lucky to find two that matched in length. I did my best to at least find ones that were proportionate to the rest of your body.” He informed Aoba. “I’m so glad to see that you can balance on them at least. I had no way of telling that any of this had worked until you woke up.” The relief in his voice was apparent, and for a second Aoba could sense a twinge of pride that Clear felt for his handiwork. Aoba knew that it couldn't have been easy to carry out. He didn't know if feeling grateful was the right emotion, or if he should just take it as bare decency that Clear slaved over his body to fix it again. 

Aoba lifted one of his feet up off of the floor. Immediately he felt his control on his body waver, and he nearly fell over. At the last second he caught himself, steadying his body once more. Walking was going to prove much more difficult than he thought. At the moment it was hard to lift his heavy legs. 

“Please don’t try to walk yet- you’ll have to wait for your body to regain strength before you try to move around too much. You could hurt yourself if you fall.” Clear explained. “You should lay back down before that happens, Aoba-san.” 

Aoba knit his brows together. He wanted to keep trying. Ignoring Clear’s orders, he took another step. It was just as shaky as the last, but he didn’t come as close to falling over. He ignored the android’s stammering behind him, only noting the pad of Ren’s paws as he came to walk at his side. Aoba’s body trembled and his limbs did their best to work with it as he moved. Trying to make his differing body parts work together was just as much of a challenge as trying to balance on someone else’s legs. Through a good amount of determination, Aoba made it to the window, where he could at least use his hands to support himself against the sill. He didn’t think until the last second that anyone looking in could see him in the nude. 

Looking out, he felt his jaw drop open an inch. Through the glass he spied heaps of garbage piled on top of one another, piled off in the distance until a treeline formed the horizon. He quickly recognized it as the dump to where his grandmother had been stolen away by Morphine. Mizuki’s image flashed through his mind for a split second, hands in his hair, mouth open and covered in his own drool when he’d failed scrap. Were they even okay? What was the world outside like now that Toue had succeeded? Questions pervaded his mind, but he cleared it long enough to look down at the bundle of fur at his feet. 

“Aoba, your body is going to give out from exertion soon.” Ren reminded him. “I would also advise that you rest for a while in order to regain your strength.” He said, bumping his nose into Aoba’s leg as if to push him closer to the bed. The increasing severity of tremors in his body suddenly became apparent, and Aoba nodded. He returned to the bed and flopped onto it gracelessly, letting his limbs give out. He should have cared that his ass was hanging out in the open, but unfortunately both Clear and Ren had seen it enough times to keep him from caring. He hadn’t worn clothing in years now, anyway.

Clear walked to his side, boots thudding against the hardwood floor. “Aoba-san. Would you like something to eat?” He asked. Right on time, Aoba felt his stomach churn and rumble against the bed sheets. 

“Yeah. Thank you.” The blue-haired man muttered. He couldn’t remember being hungry in a long time. But for a good portion of time spent in platinum jail, he hadn’t even felt alive. When he did, it was for reasons like feeling pain, or other bodily sensations Clear subjected him to. he didn’t like to think of it as something akin to pleasure. Objects didn’t need to eat, so there, he never felt hungry. He took the rumble in his stomach as a sign of being alive again, and the thought made Aoba dizzy. Ren brought stability to his mind by coming to sit by him, watching over his body like a guardian. 

“Right. Please stay here, Aoba-san.” Clear bowed as he responded, turning to leave through the opposite end of the room. Aoba heard the door shut; and sat up. The contrast of strength between what was his body and what wasn’t was phenomenal. The pieces that Clear had attached were stronger than ever, but his own body was just too frail to support them properly. 

The man turned to his allmate, allowing himself to grin. He was endlessly glad to see his old partner again- something didn’t feel right without him. “Ren. It’s actually you... I can hardly believe it!” He sighed gladly, staring at the canine model. Ren affectionately nuzzled his head against the man. “What happened to you...? In platinum jail, I mean.” 

The allmate’s ears perked up. “I was never aware that anything had happened. I was kept with the remainder of your things while you were there. But once I was turned off, I wasn’t activated again until Clear transported us both here.” 

Aoba closed his eye thoughtfully. “I see...” As he looked down, a brief quiet fell over them. 

“He told me everything. Do you really forgive him for those things, Aoba?” 

The young man jumped as his allmate spoke. He assumed that by ‘everything’, Ren meant about what kind of torture he’d been subject to in Clear’s hands. How deeply that description went, he had no idea. He didn’t even know how long he’d been away from the tower, and he couldn’t think of when he slipped into a coma-like state. It must have been some time if he had no memory of his limbs being rebuilt. Aoba idly rubbed his fingers together. 

“...Yes and no.” He murmured. “I can tell that he’s back to himself after trying to put me together again like this. But at the same time, he can’t go back and just erase everything that he did, neither can I. After what happened I’ll never have my old body or my own eyes back. I need more answers before I can say how I truly feel. At least he’s tried to compensate by doing what he has already. I’d like to know what he’s feeling about all of this, besides guilt.” 

Ren nodded his head. “I understand. If you’re willing to show him forgiveness Aoba, then so am I. But please understand that I do hold bitter feelings towards him despite your own.” 

“It’s alright. Let’s just try to figure out how we’re going to go back to normal.” Aoba pulled himself to sit resting against the bed’s headboard again, and lifted Ren up into his lap. “Alright?” 

“Alright.” The allmate responded, giving his tail a wag. His owner managed to laugh with relief. The thought of things actually being normal again lit boundless rays of hope inside of him. Maybe Tae and Koujaku were still out there, fine as they had been. What if they were worried about him? They would have enlisted Noiz to help in a search, what with the amount of information at his disposal. Aoba would be happy even if Mink came crashing through his door right now. He’d wished to learn more about him and his actions, if he could have. 

A creak came from the door as clear re-entered the room. Now the bare socket where his eye had been had a disturbing feel to it It wasn’t more than a black, metallic hole where the eyeball should have been. He felt strange to be looking at his eye’s own socket. For a moment, Aoba’s skin began to crawl like a monster had entered the room. The sound of his boots hitting the hard floor as he carried foo to him reignited a familiar sense of anxiety inside of him.

Clear came to him carrying a small bowl on a plate. “I hope this will be easy enough to get down. It’s just soup, if you’ll try eating it.” He took a seat beside the human. As he spoke he took the spoon and filled it with hot liquid, raising it up to Aoba’s lips.

Aoba paused as the other man made the gesture of trying to feed him. The sight of Clear offering the spoonful of food to eat sent his mind hurdling back into the pits of Oval Tower. He could clearly recall tubes and devices that forced food into his gut, forced him to stay alive, kept him from being the doll that Clear had wanted him to be. He’d been force fed on a number of occasions, and he recalled the sickening feeling of a fork piercing his tongue and knocking against his teeth. He would vomit from being overfed, and then suffer hunger pains for days on end. 

“Aoba-san?” Clear’s voice broke through the atmosphere. Enough time had passed for him to return the spoon to the bowl, then turn to the human with concern painted over his features. Aoba’s wide eye turned to look at him, and his shoulders relaxed as he was pulled back into reality again. 

“I’m alright. But I’d like it if you let me feed myself.” He confessed, for fear that being fed by the robot would send him back to those memories. For fear that as soon as he allowed that spoon to cross his lips, Clear might go back to the way he was. He didn’t care if his limbs didn’t work right yet, he’d drink from the bowl if he had to. 

“Right. Please be careful, Aoba-san. It’s hot” Clear placed the plate on the man’s lap, holding it until steady. He was surprisingly compliant, the other man noted. Aoba prepared himself as he tried to take a hold of the spoon, willing the fingers that weren’t his into picking it up. He lifted it to his lips without a problem, but at the last second his arm betrayed him, and he felt the fluid fall onto his chest. He hissed at the burning sensation. His own flesh remained hyper-sensitive, and the mild soup felt like it would burn a hole in him. 

“Aoba-san, Please, let me help-” Clear moved to take the objects away again. 

“No! I told you I’d do it myself.” Aoba snapped defensively. Clear immediately recoiled, a look of hurt and confusion drifting in his eye.  
Once again Aoba returned to the bowl of soup, raising the spoon to his lips. This time he was rewarded with a mouth full of warm fluid as he made the utensil slide between his lips. He swallowed, and the liquid settled in his belly easily. It was simple, odd for Clear considering the meals that he would prepare for him back in platinum jail. But here in the old resident’s district, things weren’t so easy to come across without a price. There the food had been given out at no cost, if he remembered correctly. But it was food all the same, and now that he’d had a taste, he wanted more. 

After learning his lesson through the spilled water, Aoba made a point to control himself and eat slowly. He dropped more than a couple of spoonfuls on himself, but finished everything that made it from the bowl to his mouth. When he was finished, he placed his spoon back into the ceramic dish and sighed. “You’re still a good cook, you know.” 

Clear blinked at the sudden comment. “...Thank you, Aoba-san.” He bowed his head. “I would love it if you would take time to rest more. I’ll answer any more questions after you wake up.” He moved to take the dishes from Aoba’s lap. As he wrapped his thumb around the plate, the human’s fingers ghosted against his wrist; and he jerked back fast enough to send the tableware sliding onto the other side of the bed. There was an intense moment of silence between the three in the room, and Clear was the one to break it once more. 

“Ah- Please forgive me Aoba-san. I’ll take these.” He scooped up the dishes, and without a word he scurried from the room. The man and his allmate were left reeling from the suddenness of Clear’s actions, and again, Aoba was not the one to pierce the silence.

“I’d also recommend that you rest.” Ren commented. “You’re very weak in your current state, and if you don’t take care of yourself, your body may suffer.” 

“...Right.” Aoba said, turning from the door and back to his allmate. He shuffled into a laying position, curled up on his side. he wished that he could have his headphones again, he wanted to hear the sweet bassline of Goatbed so that it could take him away from everything. For now he’d have to rely on sleep to provide him with that. 

He closed his remaining eye, and for nearly thirty minutes he tossed about in bed, too stressed by the current situation to find sleep. He lifted his eyelid open again, and as he’d thought, Ren looked on at him with worry. Aoba reached over, motioning for the allmate to come closer. He pulled his partner into his chest, holding his warm body against it. “I’m sorry Ren... I can’t sleep. Would you mind if I hold you like this?” 

The allmate shifted in closer. “I don’t mind if it helps you find rest. Do what you’d like, Aoba.” He responded, dark eyes positioned to look at his owner. Aoba curled up around the dog’s small body, closing his eye again. This time the smell and feel of his companion sent him in a deep slumber. In his gut he felt afraid of waking up inside of his cell again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated, I'll have the new chapter up sometime over the weekend if IRL should allow. There should be more action between all the characters coming in soon, so don't worry, everyone should get their moment to shine in this AU. :)


	3. Thread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, finally got this edited so I an put it up. Chapters four and five are done too, so I'll keep updating once every few days. Warning for some weird and unhealthy shit in this chapter, but that's entirely intentional, so don't worry ;)

Days had passed since then. Just as he’d promised, Clear gave Aoba the answers that he wanted. According to him, someone from within the tower had interfered with Toue’s programming in his brain. As far as his identity, or why he’d wanted to mess with Clear’s head in the first place, that was uncertain. When Aoba asked, Clear could only describe him as someone around Aoba’s age. He’d insisted that he look into Clear’s wiring, and claimed to be a researcher running maintenance on all of the alpha in the facility. He’d later revealed himself as another one of Toue’s experiments that wanted to destroy the tower and free himself and everyone inside. How he’d come to learn about Aoba was also undetermined. Clear described the man like some kind of masked savior.

According to him, Clear had gone into hysterics upon first finding Aoba’s body in the state that he’d put it in, more or less comatose. He began to smuggle parts from the plant that produced other alphas, which were stocked up and readied for deployment in mass quantities throughout the world. As far as attaching the limbs to Aoba’s body successfully, that was a matter of pulling information from all ends of the research facilities. Clear had worked endlessly for nearly a month to piece the man back together, nights included, as he had no true need for sleep like a normal human. Aoba couldn’t recall being worked on at all.

Clear noted that after he’d managed to fix him up, the next step in his plan was finding a way to escape. This had been easy enough after getting into contact with the party that had fiddled with his programing in the first place. Before he knew it, the tower was falling, and he stood outside with Aoba and Ren’s body hidden inside of a janitor’s cart. It had only been a few days since then, and though the area was in a some amount of chaos after the sudden collapse of Oval Tower, the island and its people were beginning to stabilize.

The young human listened to Clear’s story with open ears. At this point he could do little more than trust that what he was saying was the truth. If the ache in his muscles was correct, then it would be several days before he could move around well enough to leave the house. He lit up with a smile when Clear  noted that he’d checked in on granny. He’d only poked around from outside the house, but according to his report, the old woman was still fine and healthy as she’d been when Aoba last saw her.

“I want to go home.” Aoba told him. “As soon as I’m strong enough to walk around on my own again... I promised her that I wouldn’t worry her anymore. I don’t want to come home looking like this.” He motioned to his disproportionate body, now covered in clothing that Clear had provided. It had belonged to his grandfather, he said. The clothing that the android wore regularly had belonged to him as well. Aoba felt like lear placed a sense of trust in him by letting him wear his grandfather’s clothes. They were important things to him.

“Anything you want, Aoba-san.” Clear had replied. He kept his hands in his lap, as if afraid to put them near Aoba’s body. The only contact he’d given was the day prior, when he’d latched on to his hand and sobbed his artificial tears into it.

Now Aoba was walking without help, pacing around the room with Ren at his feet. There was nothing that he could be more grateful for than to have his allmate by his side, helping in what ways he could. Just the emotional support he offered was enough. Aoba took a hold of the door handle, and stepped out of the bedroom. His eye locked on to the stairs a few feet away. He hadn’t tackled them yet,and couldn’t gauge from here how long they were, but he was determined to descend them.

“Aoba. Is it safe to try to walk down the stairs in your current state?” The canine-type model asked, following his partner to the stairs. Aoba gripped the railing, and stared down. The staircase wasn’t long, or overly steep. He could do this if he was careful in balancing out his weight. He wanted to see what Clear was up to downstairs anyway, or if he had left to go out for more food.

Ren beside him, Aoba took one step. He kept himself steady for the most part, supporting himself with the railing. It was frustrating to feel a weakness in his upper thighs and hips while his knees and feet remained sturdy. All he wanted was to will his body into moving normally, and not all of him could. Gritting his teeth together the young man continued down the stairs, determined to make it to the bottom without falling. He had a close call about three steps from the bottom, barely catching the handrail in time to keep from rolling down the remaining steps.

Bliss rolled over him as his bare feet touched the wooden floor at the base of the stairs. He’d overcome the challenge that he’d set for himself- and he had to do it alone, what with Clear’s outright refusal to touch him. He traced his hand along the wall, walking through the unfamiliar house in search for the other man. He poked about all the different rooms, memorizing their location, before settling down on the couch. He was tired from exerting his body so much, and Clear was obviously gone out for supplies. He could wait for him to come back.

Being around Clear now was still unnerving. He expected the man to cut into his body while he was sleeping, to slice open his back and pull the pieces of his spine apart one-by-one, listening to his screams without remorse. Only the ‘pure’ intent of turning him into something perfect and inhuman, something that wouldn’t feel pain or die. Aoba could imagine the feeling of the blade on his skin, slicing inside, gnawing the bone and cutting clean. He opened his mouth to try and scream but nothing more than gasps came out as his bones were severe and tossed to the floor like scraps of meat.

“Aoba-san, please wake up.”

Aoba jerked as he heard the voice. He’d slipped into a nightmare while on the couch, and the first thing he met was his eye’s twin staring at him. Clear had since patched his own eye socket over. He let out a startled noise, and turned over on the couch. So much for thinking that he wasn’t afraid of the other man anymore. Deep in his mind he was horrifying to look at, and waking from his nightmare to see that face made his blood run cold.

“Ah- I’m sorry for startling you. Are you alright? You didn’t need something, did you? I’m so sorry, Aoba-san.” Clear apologized repeatedly, guilt in his tone.

Aoba gave himself a moment to become composed again, and then turned around to face the android. He blinked, and noted that the face wasn’t the same he’d seen in his nightmare. Not exactly. It was patched over from being torn, and his remaining eye looked full of human worry. “No, I’m fine.” The blue-haired youth replied. “I just wanted to try walking down the stairs. Did you leave?”

“Mm. I went to buy food.” The android replied. He blinked, and looked at Aoba’s body. “Aoba-san, if you feel well enough, you should shower. It’s been some time now since you were bathed last.” He noted, then taking his eyes away from Aoba’s form.

The human looked down at his own body. He hadn’t thought of standing long enough to shower. But from what he’d seen, Clear’s home was void of an actual bathtub. “Yeah... I’ll do that. Is there one downstairs too?”

The white-haired man nodded. “I’ll make dinner while you do that. Please call for me if you need help.”

Aoba blinked. Their conversation felt oddly... Domestic for all that had happened between them. Was that good? Bad? Aoba realized for the first time since he’d awoken that he didn’t know what he wanted his relationship to be with Clear. He remembered kissing him in the alley of platinum jail, and how every time he’d looked at clear after that he’d gotten strange butterflies in his stomach. He remembered how happy he’d been to see him again after being subject to every test there was, how he’d thought that nothing else mattered except that Clear was there, and he’d save him. He thought back to the torture and to the fear as well. He could never count the number of times that Clear had whispered love confessions to him, even in his maddened state in oval tower.

Aoba didn’t know what to look for in that. Pulling him in close frightened him, but the thought of pushing the man away did the same. He continually reminded himself that he wasn’t to blame for his programming, but at the same time, the thought of allowing Clear close enough to hurt him in such a way again made him feel ill. His heart thumping in his chest, he decided to take a risk.

“Wait, Clear.” He called out. The man turned back to look at him. Aoba felt his stomach tighten, and for a moment he couldn’t get his words to work properly. “...Come with me. I don’t know if I can stand on my own long enough to shower. I might need your help.”

The other man looked at him with mild surprise, but he didn’t protest. There was only an uneasy expression stretched across his features as he agreed. “...Right.” He replied. Standing at the human’s side, he waited for him to stand. Then, scarf billowing behind him, he led Aoba to the bathroom. The shower was old and in need of a new head, but it functioned well enough to wash properly. Aoba began to undress the moment he stepped in the door, and Clear turned his head at an awkward angle to avoid seeing him.

“What?” Aoba asked. “It’s not as if you haven’t seen me naked before.” He told Clear. He hadn’t worn clothes in around two years, and even the light ones he’d been given felt itchy and thick.. He couldn’t imagine wearing anything normal again for a while.

“Yes. I know.” The robot told him, continuing to avoid Aoba’s gaze. Speaking of which, Aoba didn’t know what to do about his eye patch. The hole had long since healed up, so he assumed that showering with it wouldn’t pose much of an issue. He removed it and placed it by the sink. He stopped just as his shirt fell to the floor, exposing ribs and scars beneath the fabric.

“Do you want to shower with me?” Aoba’s voice wasn’t more than a whisper as he made the suggestion. The shower stall would fit them both well enough. Clear didn’t appear happy, but he stood up and unwrapped his scarf from his shoulders anyway.

“If that’s what you’d like, Aoba-san.” He responded in a way too mechanical for Aoba to feel comfortable. He wondered if Clear was just going by orders. He didn’t want that to be the case. Either way, he watched the android strip naked. He’d seen Clear in the nude as well, several times, and he took note of the way his flesh was mottled after Toue had patched it over. Aoba realized that the android was every bit as scarred up from their time in the tower as he was. There was an uneasiness in his gut- he had to place a lot of trust in the other man, as he felt memories creeping into the back of his mind. He remembered being bathed, and sometimes soap and water would seep into a wound, and he couldn’t move or make enough noise to get Clear to stop. Everything brought up bad memories.

He stepped into the shower as the other man peeled off his socks, turning the dials to adjust the temperature. His eyebrows knitted in frustration as the water fell over him. One leg was too cold, his torso was too warm, and both of his arms felt perfect. He had to work for a moment until he found a temperature that was comfortable all over.

“Aoba-san? Are you alright?” He heard Clear’s voice come from behind him, just as he gave in and allowed parts of his body to feel too hot for comfort. Aoba nodded, his body and hair soaked through already.

He found it wasn’t too difficult to stand in one spot, but he fumbled with stepping back to allow Clear into the compartment as well. The android stepped in, hair instantly growing from white to grey as water seeped into it.

He hadn’t planned for things to be so awkward once inside the shower. Both of them stood face to face, eyes and sockets refusing to look at one another, silently letting water fall over them. Aoba shifted his weight, and glanced up at the other man. “Would you pass the shampoo over here?” He asked, nodding his nose towards a bottle in the corner. The android responded silently by bending over, careful not to nudge Aoba with so much as a hair, then passing him the bottle.

“Thanks.” Aoba took the object, almost dropping it. He hadn’t practiced with holding wet things yet. But he kept a steady hold on the bottle, flipping the cap open and pouring the thick fluid into his palm. He lathered his hands together, and reached out.

Catching the other man off guard, he buried his hands into Clear’s hair and began to rub the soap into his scalp. His hair felt entirely real, and he wondered if the android’s body would allow for it to grow out.

“Aoba-san.” Clear stated, his tone serious.

“Clear.” Aoba echoed the man’s name back, pushing bubbles into his hair.

“Aoba-san, please don’t.” Clear’s hand twitched, but he didn’t move to pull the human’s hands off of him. Aoba didn’t stop without intervention, continuing to wash soap through white strands of hair.

“Why? Wouldn’t you stop me if I did something that you didn’t like? You always did before, when I would try to take your mask off of your face.” Aoba brushed a cluster of bubbles out of Clear’s hair. “Or are you just going to let me step on you because you feel guilty?”

Clear blinked his eye, and looked down at his feet. “I deserve to have you step on me if anything, Aoba-san.” He confessed.

“That’s not how it works, Clear.” Aoba huffed. “You don’t apologize to someone else by letting them hurt you. You work and try to fix the problem, and work to go back to the way things used to be.”

“...How were things before this all happened?” Clear questioned, finally making contact with his old eye. Aoba rinsed out the man’s hair, thoughtfully pressing the soap out. It was a good question to ask, and when he thought back to how things were before everything fell apart, he got flutters in his stomach once again.

Aoba’s hands slipped down to cup Clear’s cheeks, thumbs pressed to the corners of his eyes. He could feel his heartbeat pick up, and he swore that he could hear Clear’s echo off the shower walls as well. He had to work to keep himself balanced, but he managed to pull their faces closer together.

Before he could react, Aoba found himself crashing against the wall and falling to the shower floor. Clear had pushed him away, making him lose his balance and topple down to the shower’s bottom. By the time he opened his eye again, the other man was already collecting his clothing to leave the room. He slipped in trying to stand again, one arm reaching out.

“Clear, wait- I didn’t mean to-” He tried to speak, but the robot slipped out of the bathroom without looking back. Aoba was left alone, sitting under the stream of water with pain in his ass and in his head. He reached back to stop the flow of water, feeling cold all over as the last drops fell down the drain. In retrospect it had been unfair of him to pull something like that on Clear so suddenly, even after he’d asked not to be touched. But, after the comment that the other man made, he couldn’t think of anything more than trying to repeat the past.

“Aoba. Are you alright? I heard a crash.” Ren came padding through the cracked door, worry in his eyes. “Did he hurt you?”

The blue-haired man sighed through his nose. “No, it’s fine. Thanks.” He turned to his allmate, stroking him with a wet thumb. “I’d better get dressed. He didn’t leave, did he?”

“No. It looked like he was going to start preparing dinner when  last saw him. I suppose he still has the habit of leaving his bottom uncovered in the kitchen.”

Aoba laughed at his partner’s response. “I think I’d be glad if he went back to doing stupid

things like that again.” He lifted himself up shakily, and Ren offered to help by pulling his shirt to him by his teeth. “That’s all I want, is for things to be the way they were.” To that, Ren cocked his head to the side, but didn’t comment.

 

...

 

“Please eat up, Aoba-san.” Clear muttered as he placed a plate in front of the human. He’d prepared some simple noodles and vegetables, something that would be easy on Aoba’s stomach while he was still healing. The blue haired man nodded his head in thanks.

“Thank you for the meal.” He murmured before slowly digging in. It was delicious as could be for Clear’s lack of ingredients. It was presented well too. An aptitude for cooking was certainly hardwired into Clear’s system, almost like it were a genetic trait. The two of them sat at a small round table, eating in silence while Ren slept beside them. The sound of cutlery hitting their dishes echoed throughout the room in a way that made Aoba’s skin crawl. He swallowed, and lowered his silverware.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to do that after you told me to stop.” He apologized. He realized that he’d never replaced his eyepatch, and it felt cold in the socket while looking into Clear’s other eye.

The android frowned. “I’m sorry for pushing you over, Aoba-san.”

“It’s alright.” Aoba told him. “If I try to do something you don’t want again, you’ll stop me, won’t you?”

Clear blinked. “...Yes.” He replied. “And the same goes for you, okay? Stop me if I try to hurt you any more, please.” A twinge of desperation came across in those words, but Aoba accepted.

“Alright.” He watched Clear return to eating, but he didn’t touch his food. “I want to go home tomorrow.” He stated, and he watched the robot jump.

“Tomorrow, Aoba-san?” He asked. “Do you think you’re well enough?”

“Yes. And I want to see Granny again, she’s worried about me for two years now, probably even more now that the tower’s come down.”

Clear looked down again, staring at the food that was growing cold. “I can take you there tomorrow.”

“Good. I want you to be there with me.”

“What?” Clear breathed, sounding both surprised and frightened.

Aoba nodded. “Yeah. I can’t explain to her how I lost my limbs and got robotic ones instead. I don’t understand any of the technical aspects about it all. We don’t have to tell her everything... But I don’t want you to just take me home and then never come back again.”

Clear had sunk into his scarf while Aoba spoke, but he lifted his face again. “Aoba-san... I know what you’re thinking. You and I can’t just go back to how we were before everything happened.” He cut through. “I did unspeakable things to you, and I don’t... I don’t want you to feel anything towards me, it isn’t right. It’s not right at all for you to want to touch me or kiss me, because I don’t want you to act like nothing happened.”

Aoba sighed. He did have a point- he’d been thinking until this point that he wanted to erase everything that happened in oval tower and just pick right up from where they’d left beforehand. Doing that wasn’t so simple. He peered into his food, growing cold, and had a hard time thinking of a reply to the other man.

“...You’re right. But don’t make yourself into a monster, Clear, I already told you that you’re not. I want...” He stopped himself. “I think I did start to love you, before it happened. And now that you’re normal again, I feel that again. I want to forgive you and let go about the things you did, because I know that the way you are now, you’re a good person.”

Silence.

Clear didn’t reply to him, standing up, and turning to put his dishes away. Aoba didn’t blame him- he’d spilled out his heart stupidly, and it couldn’t be easy to digest. He finished his food and like a coward he left the plate out. Ren had slept through the conversation, which was probably for the best. Aoba wasn’t sure if he knew about anything that had happened between himself and Clear before they’d been captured. He scooped the allmate up, and somehow, he managed up the stairs just as he’d come down that morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, glad finally got a chapter up that felt like a reasonable length! Oh yeah, since I've gotten a piece of fanart, please direct all things related to this fic tagged on tumblr as either #dratinimartini or #an eye for an eye. I LOVE to see reactions, liveblogs, and fanworks, so please don't hesitate to make some lol. Thanks, and as always comments and kudos are appreciated!


	4. Paper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaah here's the next chapter! I'm so happy that people are commenting and making fanart for this thing, it's all so mazing and I'm so excited agsdflrg

Aoba tapped his fingers against the wooden door frame impatiently. It was drawing close to five o’clock in the afternoon, and he’d spent the day eagerly waiting for the moment where he’d head out to return home. All he could think of was his grandmother’s face, and how much he wanted to see her again. He wondered idly if she’d cry, smile, or beat the shit out of him with a spoon for coming home after two years of being away. He didn’t care either way.

Aoba wanted to see Koujaku too, but that much could wait. His grandmother could listen to reason, and from her time working for Toue, she could probably understand why Clear had such a hard time thinking in a sane manner until the program in his brain was tampered with. Koujaku, on the other hand, would have Clear’s head in moments if he found out. He hated to think that he’d have to lie about anything to his best friend. But the world didn’t need to know about what had happened between the two of them, he’d have to lie to more than just one friend.

“Aoba. You’re thinking too hard again.” Came Ren’s voice from at his feet. Aoba would have liked to keep his allmate in a bag like normal, but the one he normally carried had been lost somewhere in oval tower. His coil as well, he thought to himself. He’d have to find a replacement as he started getting in touch with people again.

“Sorry. I’m just excited. It’s been two years now... And I miss home so much. But I guess it only feels like a few days to you.” Aoba smiled down at his partner, watching his furry tail wag.

“Yes, that’s true. But I am glad to be returning home safely nonetheless.” Ren told him, keeping close as a magnet. “What do you intend to do about Clear once you’ve returned? With Tae-san, you won’t need him to look after you anymore.”

Aoba sighed through his nose. “I don’t want to just go home and then forget about him. That would be easy, but... I don’t want him to just sit in this house and stew over bad memories. That’s probably what I’d do too, if I were in his situation.” He looked down at the allmate, whos look was all but sympathetic. “He’s not what he did, Ren. Things between us will be fine. Given some time, that is.”

“Right. I’ll trust your decision, Aoba.” The canine responded. His ear twitched as the sound of boots against wood began to draw closer to them. Clear rounded the nearest corner, approaching the front door where the pair waited for him. Now his own eye socket was patched over, and he’d tried to part his hair to cover it. Aoba had rendered his mask more or less useless with the broken lenses, and going out couldn’t have been easy for him without it. Perhaps that’s why he’d chosen to wait until the late afternoon to leave, Aoba pondered.

“Ready?” The young human asked, smiling out of nervous excitement. In all honesty he was the strange looking one, covered in clothes that were slightly too big  body and shoes that squeezed his toes together. But soon he told himself, soon he’d be home, and he’d be able to slip back into some clothes that fit him properly. Well, given It’d be nice to be back in clothes that fit. As for his own eye, the patch covered a large part of his face, but he would rather have it than his bare socket peeking out at the word.

“Yes. Are you sure you’ll be alright though? It’s a long walk.” Clear asked with his hand wrapped around the door handle.  

“I’ll make it.” Aoba assured him. “Now let’s go, I don’t want to keep her waiting.” He practically bounced as he spoke, following Clear out the door. Ren padded along behind, keeping stride with Aoba’s fawn-like steps.

Navigating through the dump on his shaky feet wasn’t so simple as he’d thought. He tripped more than once, and picked himself up as much as he would have liked a helping hand from Clear. But he didn’t comment on the man’s continued refusal to touch him, only getting up and continuing to move. Ren gave his sympathies vocally, nudging him with his nose to try and help him up each time. As soon as the three crossed the gates of the facility, he was able to walk without stumbling every couple of minutes. The smooth, flat concrete was a blessing under his weak hips. It wasn’t long before they were alone together, walking along the streets in the dimming light.

“What month is it?” Aoba wondered aloud, suddenly aware that he had no gauge of the current date. Ren interjected before Clear could open his mouth.

“The current date is April thirteenth.” He answered. Aoba nodded his head.

“Good, that means summer is coming up soon. I’d hate to get out and have to deal with crappy weather.” He looked at the discolored flesh poking out out of his sleeves. “This is the first time I’ve even been outside since then...” He murmured, and beside him he saw Clear look away.

“What? I’m glad!” Aoba told the other man, who led him through the maze of buildings he was becoming accustomed to again. “I get to go home, it’s all over... Try to think of this as a new start, or something like that.”

Clear turned to him. Walking at the android’s side, Aoba noticed how much taller he’d become again. He and Clear almost met eye to eye now.

“I’ll try, Aoba-san.” The white-haired boy responded.

After that, they spent an extended period of time walking in silence. Aoba was just as well that way, as he was able to take in the noise of the l resident’s district again. His hearing was sensitive after so long in quiet, he noted. Meanwhile, Ren kept up the whole way, never seeming to grow tired as he followed along his owner and the android. As the party of three drew closer to Aoba’s home, he started to feel his heart beat in his ears. “I’m almost home...” He muttered, as if in disbelief. And it was hard to believe, after such a long time spent away, locked in that room with his boy torn to shreds.

As his home came into view, Aoba’s breathing grew heavy. He picked up his pace, and despite shouts from the two behind him, he took off at a shaky run towards his front door. He made it, nearly collapsing against the door frame. Thankfully it was unlocked, and he forgot about the strength his new arms actually had, nearly throwing the sliding door off its track as he slammed it open. From inside he could hear the sounds of footsteps running close.

“What the hell-!” He heard his grandmother’s voice before he saw her, dressed in the usual attire, holding a kitchen knife in her hand.

There was a tense moment as they caught eyes, silently taking in the sight of one another after so long. The knife clamored to the floor as the old woman’s muscles loosened.

“Granny... Sorry I’m late.” Aoba breathed, opening up his arms. He met his grandmother halfway for an embrace, wrapping his arms around her tight as they collided together.

“Aoba...!” The woman shrieked in a tone Aoba had never heard from her before. She sounded somewhere between relieved, angry, and certainly near tears. “You stupid grandson, where on earth have you been?! I thought that Toue had captured you and started using you for research...!” Aoba could hear tears in her voice. Granny seemed even smaller to him now, but he held her tight to his body, afraid to let her go again.

“I did. But someone helped me escape when the tower came down.” He smiled, and rubbed his face into the familiar scent of her hair. “I’m okay now, so don’t worry Granny. It’s gonna be okay now.” He finally broke the embrace with her, looking back down at red eyes. He’d never seen her cry like this before. He had no idea of how worried she must have been, of how hard she had probably looked But he had a pretty good idea.

“What happened to your eye?” She asked immediately. Aoba was caught off guard by the question, and he raised one hand to touch the patch covering his right eye. Before he could open his mouth up, he watched his grandmother’s head turn to look behind him. Ren came padding to his owner’s side once again, and Clear stood in the doorway, shame apparent on his face as Tae noticed his matching eye-patch.

“We can explain.” Clear slowly invited himself inside.

 

...

 

Half an hour later, Aoba found himself back in familiar clothes- his room hadn’t been touched- and sitting back at the kitchen table with a basket of doughnuts in front of him. He looked around, taking in the sight of his own home and how much more colorful it looked now that he’d had a different eye installed. It wasn’t much different from looking at the world through his own, aside from being a bit more vibrant.

He and Clear sat on one side of the table, and his grandmother pulled out a chair on the other. She took a seat, a sip of tea, and locked her hands together on top of the table. “The first thing I want to know is, where have you been, and what kept you from coming home all this time? You said that you were really locked into Oval Tower, is that correct?” She asked. The woman had gotten over her initial shock, though the relief in her eyes was apparent still.

There was a brief moment where Clear and Aoba’s eyes flickered towads each other, and the latter moved to speak first. “That’s right. Clear and I went to face Toue together before, when we infiltrated the tower, and we were caught.” He explained.

Tae looked to the white-haired man sitting across from her, a stare not unlike a hawk’s falling on him. “Aoba. You’re aware that this is an Alpha, aren’t you? I had my suspicions before when he suddenly showed up and started to treat you the way that he did. However, I couldn’t know for sure while he wore that mask. His kind Toue’s mechanical servants, more or less. This one could very well be a spy sent to watch over you. If it sings its song then you and I could have our brains more or less melted from the inside.”

There was a simultaneous jump from the young men on the other side of the table, each of them in shock over her revelation. Aoba collected himself quickly, and spoke again. “I do. But you have to listen to me. He isn’t a spy, and I know he isn’t one of Toue’s mindless servants.”

The woman turned back to her grandson, skeptical. “Go on then.”

Aoba swallowed. “While the two of us were about to be captured, I ended up using my power on Clear. Like you said, I was able to place myself inside of his consciousness.  But...” Aoba trailed off for a moment, his lips curling into a tight frown. “It didn’t work. I ended up making the wrong choice, just like I did with Mizuki, and I couldn’t help him.”

“Aoba-san-” Clear interjected suddenly, starting up from his seat.

“ If I had been able to use scrap on him successfully, then Clear would have been able to use his own dye music to stop the other alphas that captured us. He wouldn’t have malfunctioned, and we wouldn’t have been captured, and none of this would have had to happen.” By this point Aoba had stood, leaning against the table with his shaking limbs, eye turned down from his grandmother in shame. “In the end, it’s my fault that any of this happened to us in the first place.”

Beside him, Clear’s hand hovered above his arm. “That’s not true, it was-”

“I’m afraid he’s right.” Tae interjected. “It’s likely that he accidentally broke your will to resist your intended ‘master’. However, if he was able to use scrap on someone like yourself, that would mean that you’re much more than a machine on the inside. A consciousness like the kind that’s penetrable by scrap is’t something that can easily be created.” She paused to take another sip of tea. “ Now, I’m interested to know why one of your eyes is in Aoba’s skull.”

There was another pause, and the pair sat down again. This time Clear took his turn to speak to the woman, finding it painful to look her in the eye. “Toue transported Aoba-san to a laboratory for experimentation, and he took me to reprogram my brain to work more like newer models. He took away any restraint that I’d learned while living with humans. I couldn’t feel emotion the same way anymore, and everything I thought was selfish and mechanical. I didn’t know what was ‘feeling’ and what was a calculation made by my brain. I didn’t care.” He stopped, and took a breath. “All I wanted was to make Aoba-san like me. I wanted him to be an object, like I am, something that doesn’t have any will of its own. I thought that it would make both of us happy. I ended up... I turned him into something that almost wasn’t human. I ripped him apart.”

“But, someone lifted Toue’s programming, and after that I did everything I could to make Aoba-san normal as he could be again. The only eyes I had to work with were my own, and I should have traded more for everything that I did to him in that state.”

Tae’s eyes had gone wide through his explanation, and she turned to her grandson once again for more answers. Aoba found himself standing from the table again. He slowly rolled up one sleeve to his shoulder, and then the other. The visible line from sickly human flesh to sculpted artificial skin jutted out from him.

“My legs are like this too. I had to have most of my body replaced with parts from alpha, ones that he collected and attached to what was left of me. He’s the one who cut them off of me in the first place, but he replaced them again as soon as he came to his senses. My body won’t ever be the same, or fully human again, but I’m more grateful for this than I am to be locked in Oval Tower.” He rubbed the rough line between his organic and artificial body parts. “I forgive Clear for what he did, because he tried to fix it to the best of his ability, and in the end none of it was truly his fault. I’m the one who failed in scrap. I’d like to ask if you’d forgive him too, Granny.”

The woman sat wide eyed, gaze locked on his discolored flesh. She didn’t know the half of what was beneath his shirt, but the gaunt nature of his face was a tell enough. She covered her mouth, looking as if she’d come to tears again, but she swallowed them down. “Aoba...” She breathed, pain apparent in her voice. “It’s alright. Choosing to forgive him isn’t my choice to make for you. And if this... If Clear can be scrapped, then there’s more inside of him than just metal and wires. I’m just so glad that you’re alive, Aoba. I’d almost given up on you.”

Aoba rolled his sleeves back down, and moved to his grandma’s side to comfort her. “Thank you Granny. I love you, I promise I won’t leave again.” He wrapped his arms around her body for the second time that evening, and she returned the gesture. Ren padded to stand by them, nuzzling Aoba’s leg with his fur.

Across from them, Clear sat with the revelation that there was more human in him than he’d thought possible. But watching the three huddle together, thankful for nothing more than the other’s life, he’d never felt like more of a machine.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we have it! At this point I'm half way through the draft of chapter eight, so it shouldn't take more than a few days for another update. (Believe it or not, there will be some happy stuff in this fic soon enough. Aoba's gotta have all his happy reunions right?) Though, in contrast to what I said earlier, please tag things on tumblr from now on with #Fic: Aefae or #Aefae, as the 'an eye for an eye' tag is stranger and more commonly used than what I believed. But tagging it with my url or submitting it is just as fine. Feel free to comment and question, and as always, thank you!


	5. Clay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is a really short period between updates, but this is my favorite chapter out of them all so far I think. So pls sit back and enjoy the show. The read. What have you.

That evening Aoba stood on the veranda outside of his room, and Clear had positioned himself at his side. His grandmother had gone to bed, and Ren had hesitantly allowed his owner to put him in sleep mode. The pair stood silently together, a breeze carrying the spring evening air over their shoulders.

Aoba recalled the night before they’d first entered platinum jail. He’d been completely restless, and Clear had shown up on his rooftop to sing him to sleep. He wished that he could bring the tune back from memory, but he found that it was too far gone in his memory. Beside him the android stood completely silent, as if waiting for permission to speak.

“Are you going to go home?” Aoba asked him, slicing through the thick quiet that had settled around them. “You’re welcome here, if you’d like. I’ve got an extra mat that I used to pull out when Koujaku slept over.”

Clear shook his head. “I’m going home, but thank you. I don’t want to be a burden on you Aoba-san.” He informed the human. Aoba felt a twinge of anxiety in those words that made the hars on the back of his neck prickle.

“If I let you leave, will you come back?” Aoba grabbed Clear’s arm, softly and slowly, so as not to startle him. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to shut yourself in and hide from the world. We’re both free again, we should take advantage of it.”

The android was unresponsive, his eye only turning to peer down at the street. “Do you believe what Tae-san said? About me being more than just a machine?” He asked, changing the topic at hand. Aoba was slightly irked, but he felt obliged to answer the question nonetheless.

“... I do.” Aoba responded. “She knows a lot about this stuff. Remember when she told everyone about my power in the first place? If she worked with Toue all that time, then she probably knew a lot about your series too. According to her, scrap is only something that can be used on someone with a human consciousness.”

Clear peered down at his gloved fingers. “If I’m human, why didn’t I feel bad about what I was doing to you? Shouldn’t that be stronger than any kind of programming? It’s like no matter what I did, I just thought that it was okay. I didn’t have anything holding me back anymore.”

Aoba thought for a moment, his lips drawn together. “I guess... That’s more of a physical restriction. If I’d wanted to grow my arms and legs back, I could never have just willed myself into doing it, no matter how hard I could have tried. So when someone changed how your brain worked, you couldn’t will yourself into overcoming it even if that consciousness inside of you wanted to.”

The taller man turned his eye onto him. “Do you really think so?” He asked. His voice was small, as if Aoba’s opinion meant the world. It probably did.  

“I do. Like with my body, you needed someone to fix the physical problem inside of your brain before you could go back to normal again.” Aoba smiled. “That’s why I blame myself for what happened more than I do you. You’d never have been put in that state if I’d only been able to keep a better hold on my powers..”

“Don’t-” Clear choked. He grasped Aoba’s hand, making the other man jump. The touch wasn’t unwelcome, but surprising. “Aoba-san, please. Don’t say that.... I can’t take it. You never did anything wrong, so don’t say that you’re responsible for my actions.”

Aoba pressed his brows together. “It is, I wasn’t able to do what I needed inside of your head, and it kept you from being able to fight against Toue.”

“No, that’s not true!” Clear snapped at him, gripping his hand so tight that it began to hurt. “You did everything right, Aoba-san. It’s my fault, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Aoba felt anger boiling up in his chest. “You keep blaming yourself for everything even when it isn’t your fault! Why do you have to be so fucking self-centered that you won’t pay attention to how anyone else feels? I’ve told you over and over that I’m grateful, I’m alive and it’s because of you, even if you tore me apart, you won’t listen to me when I tell you how I feel.”

“It doesn’t matter-” The android sputtered before being harshly cut off.

Aoba stopped him before he could go further. “Doesn’t matter? Doesn’t fucking matter? I’ve been here spilling my heart out to you, trying to make you feel better about yourself, and you have the guts to tell me that what I think doesn’t matter?” Aoba hissed. His grip tightened on Clear’s arm, and he had no idea of the strength in his mechanical hand.  “

I’m the one that you hurt. You gouged out my eyes, you ripped off my legs and my arms, and you fucking hummed the whole way through, you sat there and you raped me over, and over, and over again, and I couldn’t even fucking speak so that I could to tell you to stop, and here I am telling you that I still think that you’re a good person... And that doesn’t mean anything to you?”

Clear had his eye turned to ground like a child. “You don’t know what it’s like to feel the way that I do, Aoba-san.”

“Then tell me, you idiot! You’ve been hiding behind a mask even after I broke the one on your face. I can’t know how you feel, I can’t help you if you keep hiding everything from me. I can’t stand you like this, letting me step all over you. Fight back!” Aoba shoved him away. Clear stood there for a moment, reeling, his one eye staring at him in shock. “Come on, are you going to let me push you around?” Aoba called.

He didn’t have much time to think before Clear was up again, his fist connecting with his gut. Aoba responded by grabbing onto Clear’s arm and pulling him in to sock him in the cheek, pain igniting in his shoulder from the impact. In the intensity of the moment around him, he couldn’t help but notice that the sound of his fist connecting with Clear’s face made the distinct noise of metal on metal, as opposed to bones smashing together. The other man had a hold of him and was pushing him down, pulling his hair where he knew it hurt, and Aoba’s metallic knee connected with Clear’s groin, slamming against it hard.

Clear jarred, releasing his grip on Aoba’s hair. Aoba felt his leg give in and drop to the ground. His weakened body hurt all over, and he looked at Clear, recoiled due to the flaring pain in his cock. Both of them sat panting, anxious and waiting for the other to move. Aoba was surprised that his grandmother hadn’t heard the commotion and come running.

He watched something drop down from Clear’s eye, and the anger in his chest faded. “Clear... I’m sorry.” He muttered, reaching out to touch the other man’s face.

“No, I’m sorry.” Clear hiccupped, looking at him. “I’ve been selfish. I didn’t want to hurt you again, but here I am. I can’t stop myself from hurting you Aoba-san, I’m still the way I was, I haven’t changed at all! I just want to go back to normal, Aoba-san. I don’t know what’s wrong with me...!”

Aoba’s voice turned sympathetic. “There’s nothing wrong... You’re right, I didn’t think about how hard this is for you too.” He breathed. “I forgive you for hitting me, I started it. Forgive me?”

Clear nodded. “Mm. I forgive you, Aoba-san.” He managed between wobbly breaths.

“Good.” Aoba sat up, much as his body hurt, and wrapped his arms around the android.  “If you’ll tell me more about how you feel, I’ll listen. But you’ve got to trust me. Okay?” He rubbed Clear’s back, trying to soothe the pain he’d caused him.

“Alright, Aoba-san.” The white-haired man agreed. hesitantly, he returned the embrace, holding the smaller man in his arms. The pair sat that way for a while, tangled together while recovering from the beating that they’d inflicted on each other. Clear let out a sigh. “...I don’t trust myself, Aoba-san. I don’t know if anything that I feel is real like I used to think it was, or if the me that existed in Oval Tower was right, and everything in me is just a calculation. You’re still precious to me, Aoba-san. You’re more important than anyone else. I think that’s selfish.”

Aoba’s eye shifted to look at Clear’s hair while his chin rest on top of his shoulder. “Holding someone else close to you isn’t selfish at all. That’s the most fundamental part of being a human.” He let out a wisp of a laugh. “You’re precious to me too. I just don’t want you to leave me here and then never come back again. I want to get through this together.”

Clear pulled his face back. His eye met with the other, and for a moment it seemed perfectly natural in Aoba’s socket. There was a brief moment where they both breathed up against one another, and an agreement crossed between their shared eyes. One shook from anxiety, and the other from the strain on his fragile joints, but their lips found one another in a trembling kiss. It was short and feather-light, and Aoba’s mind drifted to the clumsy smooch they’d shared in the alleys of platinum jail. Nothing from inside of his cell came rushing back. Only the soft recollection of that first kiss between them.

They pulled away from each other, and Clear blinked. The android fumbled, blubbering apologies and trying desperately to stand. Aoba yanked him back down. “Clear, stay here.” He told the other man. “It’s alright. You didn’t hurt me.”

“But Aoba-san, I just... I took something I wanted from you.” He stammered. Shame was apparent in the red flush of his cheeks.  

“It’s okay. I wanted that.” Aoba breathed in a voice that would hopefully calm the robot. “You shared it with me. That’s not selfish, Clear.”

The man above him straightened himself, a look of guilty confusion crossing his features. “You’re not hurt, then?”

“No. I’m fine.” Aoba replied. “Are you fine?”

“Mhm.” Clear replied with a small nod of the head. He raised a gloved hand to his face, wiping away at his eye. “I’ll help you back inside Aoba-san.” With that, he straightened himself up pulled himself onto his feet. He reached his tear-stained hand out to help Aoba stand, volunteering his touch for the first time since everything had started. The other man took it, hissing as he was pulled up.

“Ah- Aoba-san, I’m sorry!” Clear immediately apologized, taking a step back from the blue-haired boy. Aoba held his shoulder and shook his head.

“No, it’s not you. I hurt my shoulder when I hit your face.” He explained quickly, for fear that he’d spook the android out of wanting to touch him again. He was steadily gaining ground with him, and this was a landmark victory.

“I see...” Clear muttered. He stepped in front of Aoba to open the door to his bedroom, waiting for him to make it safely inside before following in after him. He closed the door quietly so as not to disturb anyone in the surrounding area. He stood by the door as the other man fell onto his bed. There was a moment before Aoba started snuggling his sheets, burying himself underneath them.

“Ah- it’s been years since I’ve slept in my own bed, I can’t believe it.... I missed it so much.” Aoba was close to hugging his pillow from the sheer excitement of having it again, but he released it as soon as it touched the forming bruise on his stomach. He felt confident that Clear hadn’t cracked any of his ribs, at least. As he took in the scent of his mattress, a weight pressed into the other side of it. Aoba poked his head up to see. Clear had taken a seat on the very end of his bed, pressed against the footboard. In the dim light he could still see a sad glimmer reflected in his eye.

“I don’t mean to hurt your feelings by saying that.” Aoba apologized. Clear blinked.

“I know you don’t, Aoba-san.” He sighed. The white haired man blinked, and Aoba saw his eye dart to his wrist. Aoba didn’t know if the cracked wrist-watch looking item was truly that, or an old coil. Either way, it must have displayed the time enough for him to be able to read it. “I should go home now. It really is getting late”

Aoba felt a twinge of anxiety in his chest. “You’ll come back tomorrow, won’t you?”

Clear nodded his head. “I will.” He assured the human. But Aoba gave him a skeptical look, sitting up in his bed with blankets pulled up to his chest. “I promise that I will, Aoba-san.”

With that, Aoba was able to heave a sigh of relief. “Alright. If you don’t come I’ll walk to the dump myself.”

“Mm. Well, I should be going.” The android made to stand and leave, his white coat billowing out behind him. Aoba gulped.

“Clear, wait.”

Clear moved to stand up, but hesitated when Aoba called his name. He turned to the source of the voice, surprised to feel a soft pressure on his cheek. His body tensed as Aoba pressed his lips to the spot where he’d been struck, kissing the afflicted area. “There,” The young human’s voice came softly. “Now go home and get some rest.”

“Right away, Aoba-san.” Clear responded. He didn’t return the affection, moving out to the veranda. From his bed Aoba cocked his face to one side, and smiled as Clear exited via the roof. It was further evidence to support that the robotic man was the same he’d known back before his reprogramming. It was the same man he could remember feeling butterflies over when he kissed him, who he’d worried about, who he’d never lost hope in even after his body had been made little more than a shell.

He thought back to the kiss outside of his bedroom and gulped. Clear had touched him like that before. He’d kissed him and licked him and touched every inch of his body in a way that made him feel vile on the inside. But this... Didn’t feel bad. He wondered if Clear would touch him again, if they could do it right this time, if there was any way to fix what had happened in the basement of Oval Tower.

Maybe he was just really fucked up.

Aoba felt his heart rate rising at a high rate, and a pressure against the front his pants. He palmed the growing tent in them, imagining Clear’s hands. Not as he’d ever seen tme before, but different. Ungloved, warm, passionate.... And human, human. Above all else he would be human in his touch. Not the calculating, icy monster that Toue had transformed him into. He’d be everything that he could have been, that he was supposed to be, if only he hadn’t failed to save him inside of scrap.

He came quickly, and for once in forever he felt somewhat satisfied with his own orgasm. Guilty, but not left with the feeling of having been violated. He sat back in his bed and thought about what he’d done, looking at his own cum-stained fingers. Was that what he wanted out of Clear? He didn’t want to turn everything around and bully the man into entering a kind of relationship, he’d reacted harshly when he’d confessed how he felt back in Clear’s home. More importantly, was he deluding himself into thinking he had any kind of romantic feelings for Clear? Maybe it was a clinging sense of dependency left over from the last two years.

The thought lay heavy on his mind as he turned over onto his side. It was all confusing, too much so for him to sleep. He reached out for his headphones out of habit, opening his eye to realize that they weren’t there. Again he remembered that they’d likely been thrown away. He sighed. If Clear were there he’d ask for a lullaby, like that old song.  

Aoba shook his head, and tried to push all of his thoughts from the other man. He scooped his sleeping allmate up off of his pillow, and pulled him close to his chest. The feeling of his fur against his aching body allowed him the peace that he needed to lay back and relax. A light sleep invited him, and he took it gratefully. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! Thanks for reading, and I plan to update on wednesday or thursday with chapter six. I want to stay ahead of the game with writing them, so I can keep updates as quick as they are. (by chapter 9 this thing will be close to 24k holy heck)  
> Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to comment and kudo, and leave things in the Aefae or Fic: Aefae tags on tumblr!


	6. Dough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aha, here's the new chapter! And for once, things are looking up a little bit, so please enjoy!

“Aoba!”

The blue-haired man was startled and thrust into consciousness, falling out of his bed and adding the amount of crashing occurring in his bedroom at that moment. His first instinct was to crawl back, brain flying into a bout of panic. He didn’t get a chance to look at the source of the other noises before he felt the back of his skull connect with the footboard of his bed. A squawk tore its way from his throat from the sudden pain. Aoba held his head and curled up into a quivering ball. His heart was beating even faster than it had on the balcony the night before. With all of the adrenaline pumping in his blood, he could hardly feel the ache of last night’s wounds. Silence cloaked the room then, leaving him to shiver.

Slowly, Aoba took his hand off of his head and looked up, his eye creeping open to get a look at whoever had come barging into his room. Red and green flashed in front of him, and his eye trailed up to a familiar crimson iris. “Ah- Koujaku...!” He breathed, taking in the sight of his childhood friend. He looked the same as he’d been two years ago, if only showing a little bit of age around the face. His hair was a little bit longer, but kept over the side of his face as always. “How did you find out that I was here so soon? What time is it?”

“...It’s you. You’re alive.” Koujaku responded by ignoring Aoba’s questions, staring him down. He refused to blink, as if he would open his eyes to find his friend gone from him again. “Aoba, what the hell happened to you? I called and called, and everyone was searching for you! For years... We thought that Toue had captured you whenever you went in there. What happened to your eyes?”

Aoba lifted himself up off of the floor. Koujaku’s gaze flickered from his feet to his face for a moment, and Aoba supposed that he’d noticed the difference in his size. “It’s not exactly something that’s easy to explain. Calm down for a moment, and I’ll tell you what I can.”

“Calm down? Aoba, you’ve been missing for two fucking years and now you’re just back and acting like everything is okay?! Why didn’t you ever contact any of us? Do you know how worried I was? How worried your grandma was?”

“Koujaku.” Aoba’s voice cut through the air. As his friend’s name burst out of his lips, he felt a worrying tingle in the back of his head. The other man suddenly had his complete attention, standing upright as if awaiting some kind of order. Aoba moved to give one to him. He took a seat on his bed, and patted the sheets with his hand. “Shut up and let me explain.” There was a pause where Koujaku came to take a seat beside him. Aoba caught the scent of his homemade shampoo, and it helped soothe his fast pumping heart.

Koujaku spoke first, the look on his face considerably more calm than it had been.“...Is it really you, Aoba? You barely look like the same person anymore.” He muttered. The raven haired man concentrated on Aoba’s face, narrowing his eyes. “And that eye patch. Is your other eye missing? And since when did you start wearing pink contacts?”

Aoba felt his gut clench at the interrogation. Here he was, staring straight into the eyes of his childhood friend, and he was going to lie to him. His mind worked hurriedly to make something up, to leave out every part of what Clear had done to his body to make it seem like it was the fault of somebody else. Placing the blame entirely on Toue wasn’t difficult. Besides, Aoba was going to have to lie to a lot of people from now on. Unfortunate as it was, he had to start somewhere. Aoba swallowed in his dry throat.

“I was captured by Toue back then. He took me and kept me caged inside of Oval Tower until it collapsed.” He started. Koujaku lowered his gaze as if he’d been expecting that answer, while his lips curled into a tight frown. “First, he had me put into a lab where they could run tests on me and figure out how to control my powers, and maybe how to replicate them too. All I really know is that it went on for a long time. It’s hard to remember, but they did every kind of examination on my throat and brain that they could manage. Then, when they were done...” Aoba gulped, his heart gaining speed once again. “They tore out my eyes and...”

Trailing off, he shifted a few inches away from Koujaku. With a sore body he lifted his shirt off and over his head, revealing the horrendous line between his own body and what had been replaced. He held out a hand, flexing the fingers by curling them in and away from his palm. “They had my arms and legs removed from my body, so I wouldn’t be able to slip away from them if they needed to experiment on my powers again. They wanted to make me into an object that the could pull out if they found a reason to use it. My eye, and these hands, they aren’t real. And my legs, they’re fake too.”

Koujaku hesitated, openinghis hand and pushing it forward as if to touch Aoba’s hand. But he held back, keeping his palms to himself.  He’d grown pale, his flesh drained to white in comparison to his dark hair, and it was hard to tell if he was sickened or terrified. Maybe it was both. Yeah, probably both. Aoba frowned, and continued. “I wasn’t alone when Toue caught me. Clear made it into Platinum Jail too, and we went into the tower together. I know that they did research on him, but it wasn’t anything close to what happened to me. His case was completely different.”

“Clear?” Koujaku questioned. Aoba felt kind of uneasy while the other man inspected his automated body parts, looking them over with care. “That’s... That weirdo with the gas mask that always followed you around. He was there with you the whole time?”

“Mhm.” Aoba replied. “But Clear... He isn’t quite what he seems at first glance. We found out that he was something made by Toue as well, a kind of android that’s made to look like normal people. He behaves, acts, and feels just like a normal person does. Originally he was supposed to be thrown away, but someone erased his memories and made him believe that he was human. He had no idea that he was anything but a real person until we went into Platinum Jail together.”

“What?” Koujaku interjected, suddenly starting up in anger again. “How do you know that’s really what he was? What if this guy was some kind of spy, and he took you straight in there? He could have been so attached to you because he wanted to pull all of your information and send it straight to that bastard’s desk!” Aoba swore that Koujaku’s ponytail started to bristle like a cat’s. The younger pressed his lips into a thin line.

“Clear’s the one who helped me get these limbs, Koujaku. He’s the reason I’m even alive, I was dying when he started building all of this. I would have sat there and fallen apart on a moldy bed if he hadn’t found me.” He cut in. Only part of that statement was false.

The larger man blinked, features returning to their calm expression. Aoba continued as he made the man listen to him again. “He spent almost a month stealing parts and using what he knew of his body to make a new one for me. My arm and legs were all stolen from a plant that was mass producing robots like him, and Toue was going to release them outside of Platinum Jail to brainwash people. My eye...” Aoba put his fingers up to the organ. “It’s Clear’s. There weren’t any eye parts that he could get away with stealing, so he ripped his own out and gave it to me. I’m eternally thankful to him for giving me a chance to live again after what Toue did to us.”

There was a prolonged moment of silence as the older of the two drank in all of the information, letting it sit and burn in his gut.  Aoba felt his own belly flip and roll under his skin as he waited for a reply.

Koujaku turned his nose down. “Aoba... I’m so sorry...” He breathed. “I wish I could have come to save you myself. I promise, I never stopped looking. My team’s been on lookout every single day, I’ve have people in platinum jail searching for you everywhere. Noiz, and that Mink guy too, we’ve all been trying our best to find you. It just wasn’t good enough, even with all of us.” He looked close to tears as he spoke.

Aoba sighed through his nose. He hated to see so many people feel guilt over things that weren’t their fault.“Koujaku, it’s alright. I’m safe and sound now, and pretty soon everything is going to go back to normal.” Those words felt acidic coming out of his mouth. Things weren’t going to be normal, not when he was stuck here wondering if he’d developed some kind of hero complex based around Clear. That’s certainly what he’d made him out to be while he spilled out his lies to Koujaku. Some kind of white knight that had saved him from Toue’s filthy hands. Koujaku would never know how dirty they were underneath his white gloves. He didn’t need to. Aoba wanted to be the only one that was allowed to peel them off, and try to wash them.

Aoba’s friend turned back up to look at him, and nodded. “Yeah. But are you sure you’re alright? I mean, up here?” He pointed at his own head, poking it. Aoba blinked. To be honest, he was lost as how to answer that question. His heart screamed that no, he wasn’t, he was still afraid of every little noise and the thought of entering the real world again was intimidating. But he hid his heart behind a soft smile.

“I will be with a little bit of recovery.” His lips stretched into a grin, and gently smacked Koujaku’s arm. “What, do you think something like that would bring me down? Look at me now, I’m back! And I’m a super cool cyborg! I bet I could learn to use this eye to peek in on what’s under the clothes of all those girls you hang around, huh?”

Koujaku paused, and he let out a laugh. “I’ll have to throw a bunch of magnets in your pockets and then see how you feel about peeping in on innocent young women like that! You’ve been brainwashed into becoming a pervert, haven’t you?”

That last sentence struck a chord in Aoba as he thought back to the night prior. His pants were probably still stained with his own semen, but if Koujaku had seen anything he didn’t comment. . But he returned a chuckle. “Oooh noooo, not magnets!” He dramatically leaned back, pressing a hand to his forehead. “You’ve found my only weakness, you big bully!”

The rest of the morning, the laughter of the two young men could be heard drifting out of the window and into the spring air.

...

 

Koujaku stuck around the Seragaki’s home until dinner time. Aoba excused himself for a little while to shower, finding it difficult to find a proper temperature again. He had no way of telling if his nerves would ever even out again. He’d activated Ren to keep guard in case he fell while washing himself, and his companion sat outside the curtain loyally.

Aoba felt a sense of nostalgia crawl over him as he walked into the sight of his grandmother cooking and his best friend chatting with her from the table. Ren padded along beside him the whole time, tail wagging slowly behind him.  The sight before him was was heartwarming, to say the least. He never thought that he’d be able to see anything like this again. At the sound of his feet hitting the floor, the two turned towards him. Tae placed a lid on the stew that she was working on.

“Aoba, are you feeling alright?” She asked. Her grandson nodded in response, pulling out a chair to sit down. His hips ached, but they were considerably stronger than they had been just a week before. He sat down across from his friend, who couldn’t look more like an excited child. The look only intensified when he saw the lump of blue fur at Aoba’s feet.

“Ren!” Koujaku exclaimed. The allmate’s ears and perked up at the sound of his name, and his tail began to wag faster than Aoba had ever seen it move before. “You’re alright too, I’m so glad! Come here!” Koujaku bent over to scoop the puppy allmate up into his arms, swaddling him against his clothing as he always had before.

“I’m sorry to have worried you, Koujaku.” Ren told him. “Is Beni still well?” He inquired about his friend, poking his nose around in search of the bird type allmate. Aoba hadn’t seen the spunky little bird yet, now that he thought about it. But just as he finished the thought, Koujaku reached into his kimono. He pulled out the sparrow, activating him from sleep mode.

The little machine’s eyes flickered open. They focused on Ren, looked around, and then peeped at Ren again. Beni took a moment to process what he’d woken up to, and he jumped up out of Koujaku’s hand. Immediately he barraged Ren’s face, flapping his wings and pressing his head close to the dog-type’s.

“Ren?! Is that you? Where have you been, I’ve been looking for your sorry tail for two years, and you come back without any warning? What’s wrong with you?!” He cheeped, bouncing up and down on Ren’s stomach. The dog shook his head, trying to escape the other allmate’s attack.

“Ah- I had no intention of leaving for so long. I was in sleep mode for the majority of my and Aoba’s absence. Please stop jumping on me.” Ren felt Beni press his beak right to his nose while he spoke, voice flowing out of speakers in his automated throat. The sparrow blinked again, and looked across the table. His eyes landed on Aoba, and he took off from Ren’s belly.

“Aoba?! You’re alive too?” He cried in a shrill voice, flapping around the man’s head. “Not in one piece, either! Who did this to you?! Let me at ‘im, me and Boss will teach them a lesson! Right?” He landed on Aoba’s shoulder, looking to his owner.

Koujaku laughed, scratching Ren’s ears. “Sounds like whoever did it already paid for it. We’ll have to pick a fight somewhere else.”

“Yeah, haven’t paid that damned toucan Tori a visit in a while. I’ll peck his other eye ou-” Beni paused, and saw Ren glaring at him in Koujaku’s lap. He turned to Aoba and his patched over eye, and pulled his wings in close. “Ah... Sorry Aoba, didn’t mean to offend.”

The blue haired boy chuckled, and proceeded to stroke Beni with his finger. “Don’t worry, you didn’t bother me at all. I’m glad for the eye I’ve still got.”

“Right. Beni, why don’t you and Ren go catch up?” Koujaku suggested, placing the blue pup back on the floor. “You guys fill each other in on the situation, okay.”

“Roger!” Both of the allmates cried. Ren padded off to the another part of the house, and Beni flapped his wings right behind. Aoba felt refreshed knowing that his partner could be reunited with his friend as well, and they deserved the time to catch up together. Meanwhile, Koujaku let out a sigh across from his seat at the table.

“God, I can’t wait to tell everyone else that you’re alright. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve kept connections with Ruff Rabbit and Scratch, and they’ve all been looking just like I have. It’ll be nice for everyone to be able to breathe again, we’ve been worried.”

Aoba scratched the back of his head. He paused for a moment. For the first time he realized that his hair didn’t have as much feeling in it anymore. Maybe that too was some kind of side effect of the experiments. “Koujaku. I appreciate the thought, but I’m not ready to have everyone on the island knowing that I’m back yet. I’ve got to figure out how I’m gonna... You know. Explain why I’m different now.”

Koujaku looked away like a puppy. “Yeah, I understand. Sorry.”

“Aah, you don’t have to apologize. I just want to focus on getting better right now.” He stretched, flexing his new fingers. “But don’t worry, I’ll be back to normal in no time!.”

Koujaku opened his mouth to give a reply, but he was cut off by a sharp rapping at the front door of the house. Aoba stood despite the strain it put on his body. “I’ve got it.” He said, exiting the kitchen. Koujaku looked after him curiously, while Tae never turned her back. Aoba heard an exchange of words behind him, but he couldn’t catch what they were. He focused on the door in front of him, sliding it open.

As he expected, his other eye met him on the opposite side of the door. Clear stood dressed in his usual coat, looking depressed as ever since they’d escaped the tower. Aoba could barely imagine feeling sad now, not when he was surrounded by family and friends again. Maybe that’s what Clear needed too.

“Hello, Aoba-san. Could I come in?” The android asked politely. Aoba nodded, and stepped out of the way for him to come inside. He was satisfied to see that the man had kept his promise in coming back to see him. Clear sniffed the air as he removed his boots. “Ah. Is Tae-san cooking dinner?”

“Mm.” Aoba replied. “Koujaku’s here too.”

Clear jumped at those words. “Koujaku-san? Did... Did you tell him anything?” His voice dropped to a whisper, and Aoba noted the way that he sank into his scarf like a turtle.

Aoba drew close to him, lowering his voice. “I did. He knows about me, but I just told him that Toue experimented on us both, and you saved me before Oval Tower came down.”

Clear looked conflicted, but he nodded. “Alright.” He slipped off his boot, and waited for Aoba to lead the way back into his kitchen. He hid behind him almost like a child, and while Aoba didn’t like it, he could understand why he would feel intimidated. He offered Clear a seat at the table, and Koujaku’s eyes latched onto the white-clad man.

Tae turned around for a moment, and nodded her head at the android. She had a defensive look in her eye, and again, Aoba noted that it was justly so. “Clear. Did Aoba invite you over again?”

“Yes, Tae-san.” The robot responded. “I hope I’m not intruding.”

The woman lifted the lid off of the pot she worked over, and fiddled with the contents of a skillet beside it. “It’s no trouble, so long as Aoba invited you.” She told him. The woman began to set dishes out at the table. There was enough for Clear as well, and Aoba wondered if his grandmother hadn’t anticipated his coming after all.

“Ah...” Koujaku spoke up. “You’re Clear then? The guy with the gas mask from two years ago?” He asked. Clear appeared nervous, but with a quick glance over to Aoba, he was able to speak.

“Yes. And you’re Koujaku-san, right?” He asked timidly. Timid was hardly a word that could have been used to describe Clear at one time. But here he sat with his chin half way tucked behind his scarf, frozen in eye contact with the wandering hairdresser.

“Yeah.” Koujaku told him. “Listen, I’m sorry about the way I treated you back then. Aoba filled me in on the situation... And listen, as his best friend, it means the world to me that you sacrificed so much to save him.” Koujaku stood up, and all eyes turned to him. He bowed deeply before Clear, his hair hanging down over his face. “I’m in your debt for saving him.”

Aoba watched the display of gratitude with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Clear’s hands were gripping the table, fingers quivering in their gloves. “...Thank you, Koujaku-san. It was just the right thing to do.” He murmured, and Aoba could see how it strained him to speak. Koujaku stood and then took a seat again, lifting his nose.

“Tae-san, it smells great!” The raven-haired man exclaimed. Tae placed a bowl of stew in front of him and tutted.

“I should hope that I’ve gotten used to how you like it. Aoba was gone for two years and you kept mooching off of me like nothing happened.”

Koujaku laughed. “Tae-san, how cruel! I was trying to keep a lady company during a time of tragedy. You would have been lonely without me.”

The old woman sat down. “I hate to say it, but you’re right this time. Let’s all be glad that Aoba’s back.” She paused. “And Clear. Let’s be glad that you’re safe as well. I’m also grateful for you bringing my grandson back to me. Thank you.”

Clear blinked. He looked down at his food, sinking his nose into his scarf. A muffled sniff came out, and all eyes turned to him.

“Clear...” Aoba watched tears fall from Clear’s eye, dropping onto the table.

“Thank you both for having me.” The android’s voice wavered as he spoke. “I’m not deserving of your gratitude, not at all. But thank you, the only thing I could do was try to make Aoba-san normal again. I did my best.” He wiped his eye, and clapped his hands together. “Thank you for the food!” He exclaimed in his teary voice, and dug in.

“Thank you for the food.” The other three repeated in unison. They started to eat as well, and with the clinking of dishes the two allmates returned to the kitchen and took a place by their partners.

Aoba noticed Clear peeking at him over his bowl, and he smiled. The robot blinked, and for the first time, he smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The scene with Ren and Beni was added in at the last second and I really like it. Next update will take close to a week this time, as I'll be busy this weekend with going to Chicago (I'm going to see Distant Worlds: Final Fantasy, which is my dream concert) So, expect the next update to come about a week from now. Again, thank you, and as always kudos, comments, and any and all contributions to the fic: aefae tag on tumblr are welcome!


	7. Adhesive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another update! Earlier than I said, I know, but I've been so exhausted after my trip to Chicago I've been pretty much bedridden all day. Thus, I had time to edit this and post it for you all. I have mixed feelings about this chapter myself;;;

Another week flew by for Aoba. Clear and Koujaku both came to visit him every day, one in the morning and one in the evening, and occasionally they overlapped. Clear was by no means back to his normal self, but every now and again Aoba was able to catch him in the act of smiling. Meanwhile, Aoba was subject to his grandmother’s tests of his motor ability each day, testing to be sure that his limbs weren’t going to be disconnected from the nerves. She also kept a close eye on his weight and vital signs. Under her care Aoba’s body was recovering and growing stronger by the day.

Finally the young man found enough confidence in himself to venture outside, by himself, just for a little while. He had no idea of what the island was like after he’d been whisked to the pits of Oval Tower. Apparently Toue hadn’t been set just yet to release his mind control devices upon the island, but had been close by the time the tower fell. The thought that he didn’t know if that man had lived or perished in the fall was ever prominent in the back of Aoba’s mind. How was he to know that he wouldn’t come for him again?

Aoba tossed the thought from his mind. Everything would be fine. The boy slipped his feet into a pair of sneakers, and zipped up an old jacket. There was a split second where he felt self conscious about his eye patch. He swallowed that feeling, and told himself once more that he’d be alright. His body may not be whole, or wholly his own for that matter, but he was thankful for every shred of what he had. Other people be damned if they stared at him or whispered behind him. This body was fine the way it was, he repeated that to himself whenever he noticed the scars that laced it. It wasn’t long before he began to believe it.

“You’re sure that you feel comfortable going out on your own?” Ren poked his head out of the bag that he was being carried in. It was older and more ragged than the one that he would have used before, but like everything else, his old bag was lost somewhere in Oval Tower’s wreckage. But the allmate seemed content either way.

“Yeah. And I won’t be alone, I’m bringing you along with me aren’t I?” Aoba stroked the allmate’s head with his thumb.

“You’re right.” Ren agreed. He kept his head out of the bag,  electronic eyes watching Aoba open the door. The sunlight fell over Aoba’s blue hair, and a nice spring day welcomed him to go out and at least walk around the neighborhood. He had no set destination, all he wanted to do was stretch his legs and work his body back into shape. He trusted Ren to alert him if he grew too tired or distressed to keep moving. So he set out, passing through the front gate of his home and making for the street.

Aoba took in the sight of his neighborhood through his new eye. The world around him really had grown much more colorful. Clear had been manufactured to see the world as such a beautiful, bright place from the very beginning. The youth continued out of his home’s front gate with his hands in his pockets and Ren at his side, taking in the simple pleasure of fresh air. He wound his way through streets and buildings, passing faces that never looked twice in his direction. Aoba’s feet were set to autopilot, allowing for his mind to stray. He found himself itching around the neck, where he’d always carried his headphones prior to his capture. The least he could have done was ask his grandmother for the money to buy a cheap set of earbuds until he could afford something nice again.

Aoba’s mind came into focus all of a sudden. He looked to his side, and then upward. He found himself standing on the dusty-covered street outside of Heibon, still the same as it had ever been aside from a few scuffs on the sign. It was as if instinct had dragged him along his once commonly beaten path and straight to the shop. He looked down to the bag slung over his shoulder, meeting the eyes of his allmate peeping back at him. “...You think Haga-san’s fired me yet?” He asked with a quiet laugh.

“You’re approximately 812 days late.” Ren replied immediately. “But I have reason to think that your absence may be excusable, given the circumstances.” He poked his tongue out as if to smile at his own joke. Aoba rubbed his head, and smiled himself.

“Right. Well, let’s see if Haga-san will take me back. Getting back to work again should be fun.” He pulled on the door handle, the temperature around him shifting as he entered the store. As always the bells attached to the corner of the door jingled upon opening and closing. Aoba was pleased to see the his former workplace hadn’t suffered from much change. The gross looking giant doll had sold, or his boss had finally gotten rid of it. In its place stood a new shelf full of trinkets and, well, junk. His ears picked up a grunt coming from the back of the store, and he moved to investigate it.

Aoba poked his head around the corner of the door to find the old man straining to lift a heavy box, arms shaking from the pressure. He held his hand out without a second thought. “Ah- Boss, do you need help?” He asked hurriedly. The old man nodded his head, turning the package over to the younger man.  

He sighed, removing his hat to wipe the sweat from his brow. “Oh, thank you Aoba-kun. You’re such a gooOOOOOOOOOOO-!!!!’”

Aoba was unprepared for the shrieking that came from Haga’s mouth, and he dropped the box. Before he knew it there were hands on his face, squishing his cheeks together. “Aoba-kun?! Is that you?” The man exclaimed. Aoba could see his eyes widened behind his spectacles, and he nodded his head while unable to speak. The shop owner removed his hands and kept them held up in the air. “Oh my god, does your grandmother know where you are? Where have you been all this time, half of the island has been worried about you! What on earth happened to your poor eye?”

Aoba remained composed through the barrage of questions. He was going to have to get used to it from now on as he reconnected with people he’d known before. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I got caught in Platinum Jail. They ran some experiments on me, and well...” Aoba scratched the back of his head. “I came back looking a little different. I’m fine though, just recovering from it all.”

The old man took in his words quietly, clasping his hands together in the usual fashion. “Aoba-kun... I’m so sorry. I wish I could have been of some more help to you. I understand if you don’t want to go into detail about it.” He apologized, lowering his head. “But, if I might ask, what did happen to your eye?”

Aoba pointed to the eye that Clear had donated for his own use. “Mine were removed as part of the tests. I was blind for a long time, and I never thought that I‘d be able to see again. Someone installed this one inside. It’s actually robotic, so I can see just fine out of it.”  

“...I understand.” The old man replied softly. “And again, I’m sorry for your losses. I’m so  that you’re back safe.” Haga-san straightened his back. “And in case you were worried, your position is still open if you should ever want it again!”

“Awesome! I’ll start as soon as I can!”

 

...

 

As soon as he could meant as soon as he was well along in healing, but either way, the day had proven refreshing for Aoba. He hung around the shop for a little while and tried to catch up on what had happened to the other islanders after he’d been captured. Life for the population of the old resident’s district had been like a waiting game. There were many who went in to platinum jail for Toue’s ‘special events’ that never came out. Most did, however, to avoid suspicion as mass amounts of young people went missing. Toue’s plans took too long to be successful, and that’s where his fatal flaw had been. So, with some losses, now the island could hope to return to normal.

Aoba had eaten dinner and settled in for the night after his grandmother went to bed. He stood on the veranda patiently, waiting for any sign that Clear would be making his usual evening visit. He worried, what with no way to contact the man. Neither of them owned a coil for the time being. He laughed when he wondered if he and Ren could use electronic telepathy to communicate with one another. It wasn’t impossible, just unlikely.

As the sun set, he started to grow tired and thinner in hopes that the man would show up. Maybe he just didn’t feel up to it. A shame, he’d been acting so much happier lately, and more willing to hang around. He couldn’t be doing much than sitting alone at home all day.

Aoba found himself thinking less and less of the Clear he’d been tortured by, as time went on. Hell, he could hardly see him as the spastic person he’d been way back when they’d first met. This Clear was different from both of his past ‘selves’. That was just fine, shy and depressed as he was. There probably wasn’t any fixing of those traits. Just as Aoba would be haunted by memories, so would Clear, but he’d been alright with accepting that from the beginning.

He opened the door to his bedroom and exited the veranda for the warm comfort of his bed. Aoba peeled off his shirt and pants, tossing them to some unknown corner of the floor. He removed his eye patch as well, placing it gingerly on his dresser where he’d be able to find it in the morning. He looked down at the junctions between his limbs, rubbing them gingerly as he went. This was his body now. His hands and his legs and his eye. The boy chanted that in his mind while slipping under the covers.

Just as his head hit the pillow, so came a thud from his veranda. He jumped reflexively, looking out through the glass doors. Clear peeped inside, blinking at him from across the glass door. Aoba lifted his covers off of his body, and stepped lightly to go meet him. Sliding the door open, he found Clear fidgeting on the other side.

“Aoba-san. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. It wasn’t my intention to come so late, I got caught up on the way here. Someone was replacing the shingles on their roof and I had to find a way around.” He explained. Aoba took some pleasure in those words. Clear wanted to come, he wanted to see him, and that thought was reassuring.

“It’s alright, I just got in bed. You can come in- but be quiet. Granny’s sleeping downstairs.” He moved to allow the man in white inside of his bedroom. Clear walked past him, and Aoba closed the door with a soft click in his wake. The two were left alone in the dim lighting provided by the moon outside. Clear took a seat on Aoba’s bed, and the human followed. They sat side by side, and the silence between them hardly felt heavy.

“Aoba-san. How’s your health? Is everything working okay?” The robot spoke up, turning to face the human. It was a question he asked a lot since Aoba had come back home. He eyed his own work and where it connected to Aoba’s body. The younger rubbed one of the areas with a fond grin.

“I’m fine. Every day it gets easier to live like this. Today I even went back to the shop where I used to work. Haga-san says I’m welcome back as soon as I’m healed up. I only explained the eye, but he didn’t seem to mind that much. He was just relieved to see that I’m alright.” He paused. “And you know, as long as that’s what the people that I care about think, I don’t mind what anyone else has to say.”

Clear cocked his head to one side. “What about everyone around you though? If you went to the beach, everyone would look at you like you were a monster. If it’s ho, you can’t take your shirt off outside. The opinions of those people matter to you, don’t they? I’m scared that people won’t accept you anymore, Aoba-san, and that’s my fault.”

“Who cares what they think?” Aoba flopped back onto his bed. “I was never really human anyway. I came out of one of Toue’s labs just like you did, that’s why I have these powers.” Aoba tapped his head as he spoke. “If I spend all of my time thinking about the opinions of people who don’t matter to me, I’ll just make myself depressed. Also, it isn’t your fault. Think if you’d pulled me out of there as I was? All I’d be good for is being a burden and sitting in bed.”

Clear didn’t reply to him for a moment. “...You really feel that way?”

“I do. I’ve got my life back more or less, and I’m gonna enjoy it while I can.”

Aoba felt Clear lay back beside him. “That makes me happy, Aoba-san.” He whispered. “I did what I could... And if you’re satisfied, I’m satisfied with at least that much. But I still won’t forgive myself for what pain I’ve caused you. I can’t.”

Aoba turned his head so that his eye could see it’s twin. “That’s alright. Maybe it’ll just take time. It’s fine to rest and think for a while.” Aoba paused. “It’s really late now, why don’t you stay the night?” He turned over onto his side, facing the man.

“I wouldn’t want to be a burden.” Clear told him worriedly.

“You won’t be. You can just lay here in bed with me.” Aoba shuffled, and pressed his hand against the mattress. As it was, Clear’s legs hung off the bed.

“Aoba-san... I don’t really know if-”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just thought you might, after what happened the other night.” Aoba cut him off, immediately allowing Clear to back out if he wanted to.

Clear’s cheeks turned flush with artificial blood. “Aoba-san... I understand if you feel that way, but I don’t know if I feel comfortable having sex with you.” He sputtered.

Aoba jumped. “That’s not-!” Now he was growing red in the face as well. “I didn’t mean it like that! I don’t really want to have sex with you either right now, just so you know. I just wanted to sleep in the same bed.” He mumbled in an embarrassed huff.

He’d looked away for a moment, and in that spanse of time, Clear had shifted on the bed to lay down in a proper position. Aoba blinked, but took that as consent to sleeping together. “Ah, you’re gonna sleep in that big coat?” He asked innocently. Clear sat up again, removing the article of clothing. With fingers pausing at the buttons for a moment he made to his shirt as well. They ended up on the floor to be tangled up with Aoba’s clothes.

Clear returned to the spot he’d been in, and Aoba followed suit by lying down behind him. He wrapped his arms around the other man’s torso, and dug his face into his back. “...This okay?” He whispered. The position was mainly for convenience given the size of his bed, but he was inclined to be close to Clear if he could be.

“Yes. It’s okay.” Clear replied. “Goodnight, Aoba-san.”

“...Goodnight.” Aoba whispered. He wanted to peek over and kiss Clear’s lips. But, he thought,  that would be asking too much of him. This was a big enough step in getting Clear to feel okay around him again. And, despite his lust from the other night, those feelings weren’t present now. Laying in bed this way was intimate enough for him.

Aoba listened to Clear’s artificial heartbeat, paid attention to the feeling of fake flesh against itself, and noted the way the android would shift once every couple of minutes. He opened his eyes for a second. “...Clear. What was that song that you used to sing? It was beautiful.” He whispered in a sleepy haze. He felt the man in his arms tighten.

“I’m very sorry, Aoba-san.” The white haired robot muttered. “I’ve forgotten myself... Just what it sounds like.”

Aoba’s eye widened, and cold air flew into the uncovered socket on the opposite side.. Clear without his song seemed like a bird without its melody. Had Toue taken it from him? He wanted to see Clear’s face, but he didn’t move from his spot. “That’s alright. It’ll come back to you I’m sure.”

There were no words to be exchanged after that. Aoba was too sleepy to keep up with any further kind of conversation. He drifted off, and just before he slipped into nothing, he reminded himself that Clear didn’t need to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! Kind of a bittersweet one I suppose, but I hoped you all liked it! Next chapter will probably be up in four or five days given my schedule again, and how impatient I get with wanting to upload all of these chapters that I'm finishing ahead of time. As always, feel free to kudo, comment, or add to the tag on tumblr! Thank you!


	8. Tendons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At just over 4k, this is the longest chapter yet! It was also very fun to write!

“ _Destroy him_.”

Aoba’s peaceful sleep was interrupted. He’d been resting quietly, body still wrapped around Clear’s, when he was awoken by the echo in his brain. It was accompanied by a mild ache in his skull, whispering in his mind like a nagging thought. As the groggy young man was roused into consciousness, the voice grew louder, and with it the pain in his head became stronger as well.

“ _Destroy him. You could do it right now. He won’t know what hit him. The sooner you decide destroy him, the better. Use your power._ ” Came the voice again. Aoba was unsure of it at first, but when it vibrated between his ears, the memory of it became real. It was the voice- his voice rather, but with a different way of speaking- that had plagued him in platinum jail. It was the other side of him, the one that kept a leash on his power and used it at his own will. He’d always been pulling at him, barking at his heels in order to get his way.

Yet he’d never shown up when Aoba had actually needed him, had he?  He’d sat back and waited, complying with the experimentation, letting Clear do as he wished when he knew full well that scrap may have kept him at bay, watching in silence as Aoba’s body was laid to absolute ruin. But here he was.  Now, when life was good again, hissing that familiar chant of destruction into Aoba’s aching brain.

Honestly, Aoba felt betrayed.

Aoba thought to himself, trying it as a method to communicate with the one inside of him. “Why would I do that?” He spat internally, making his acidic sense of betrayal apparent. “And where were you when I needed you? If you love to destroy things so much, why couldn’t you have done it when it mattered? You could have destroyed Clear, you could have destroyed Toue or anyone else. Where were you when I actually wanted to use my powers?”

He heard nothing, and assumed at first that his attempt to speak with the entity had failed. However, a crawling sensation crept into his brain. “ _I did what I could for you. I couldn’t have destroyed him in the state that he was in, not after the old fart had his way with his head. There wasn’t anything that I could destroy there, it was all smothered by something that I couldn’t get past. But now, you can go inside of him and destroy him. Before his heart is covered up again. you can break it.”_

“But he’s fine now. He’s finally starting to look up again, I want him to be happy. I can’t break his mind again, I did it once and now he’s got a second chance.” Aoba retorted, wrenching his eyes shut. The ache in his head was growing in intensity as each second crawled past.

 _“He isn’t. He’ll only be fine if you destroy him.”_ The voice fired back. He was angry now, hissing like a cornered cat. _“Destroy him! If you care for him at all, you’ll destroy him. Destroy, destroy, destroy!”_

Aoba gasped as the other ‘him’ threw a tantrum. His brain felt like it was melting past his eardrums, and he held his skull between his hands in a desperate attempt to make the agony recede. He didn’t have his medicine anymore, since he’d never had trouble with the headaches until this point. He sat and shook until he felt a touch on his arm, gentle and fleeting as it came. The pain retreated, for now, and Aoba was able to turn his eye to Clear.

The android stared at him with worry. He almost looked guilty, and Aoba didn’t doubt that he was trying to blame himself for something again. The blue haired man took a deep breath. “Sorry. Had a headache.” He murmured. His eye darted to the digital clock beside his bed, and he read it to be close to four in the morning.

“Should I get Tae-san? Or activate Ren-san?” The android asked concernedly. “You used to have headaches back then, didn’t you? Of course, I know how to treat mild headaches as well, but you seem to be in a huge amount of pain” He sat up beside Aoba. There was sleepiness apparent in his eye.

“Mm.” Aoba nodded. “I did. Granny told me that the headaches were a part of trying to keep my powers dormant. I thought that they’d gotten rid of them while they were experimenting on me. Turns out I wasn’t so lucky.” He sighed. Aoba looked away from the other man for a moment, hesitant to keep speaking. He hadn’t told anyone about the second entity inside of him yet, and it was hard to confess something like that to anyone without looking crazy. He didn’t know much about his alternate persona himself, beyond his relentless need to desecrate everything that stood in Aoba’s path.  

Hesitantly, Aoba let his voice crawl out of his mouth. “It’s like... There’s two of me inside of my head. There’s me, and then there’s someone else that has control over my power. A long time ago he was the dominant one, back when I was a punk that went around playing Rhyme all day and night. I don’t remember much about back then, but he must have been the dominant one while I was pushed back inside. But then I got into an accident, and for some reason, our roles were reversed and he shrank back inside of me. Granny gave me medication to try and keep him quiet and my powers from resurfacing... But the closer we got to Oval Tower the more I heard from him. He always says the same thing.” Aoba trailed off.

“...What is it?” Clear questioned. Aoba couldn’t tell if the android believed a word of his story or not.

“Destroy. Destroy destroy destroy, that’s all he wants to do. He wants to get inside of people’s heads and break them.” Aoba explained. Clear didn’t look to be too skeptical, but they were in the dark and it was hard to see.

“You heard him just now then?” Clear asked him patiently. “What did he say to you?”

Aoba drew his lips into a tight line. “Destroy, mostly.” He lied. Why was he lying? Maybe he didn’t want to make Clear afraid of him by revealing that his other persona desired to destroy him. “He told me that he couldn’t come out while I was imprisoned in Oval Tower. There was nothing for him to break while I was in there, so he went away.”

Clear looked down as if digesting the information. “Are you sure I shouldn’t wake anyone else up? If my being here is making you uncomfortable Aoba-san, I’ll leave and come back a little later. I don’t mean to put any stress on you.”

Aoba shook his head. “No, you’re fine. I feel better having you here. I might have been in trouble if you didn’t touch me just now. Just stick around a little longer.”

The alpha appeared hesitant, but he relaxed back against the mattress. “If it will help you sleep, Aoba-san.” He murmured. Aoba noted the silent way that he pretended to go back to sleep, recalling the fake snoring noises he’d made once upon a time. With the ache in his skull having subsided into nothing more than a subtle throb, the boy settled himself back in. It was warm beneath the blankets and up against Clear’s artificial body heat, so falling asleep again was easy as could be.

 

...

The following morning, Aoba woke to see that  Clear had remained in his spot. He was dually surprised to find a strand of white hair half way stuck up his nose, but not entirely displeased. He shuffled his body beneath the covers, kicking them off lazily with one foot. “...I’m up.” He grumbled, despite having woken up of his own volition. There was a shift from Clear’s side of the bed as well, and Aoba heard a groan from the android’s throat.

“Ah... Did I wake you up?” Aoba asked as he pulled himself into a sitting position. “I thought you didn’t sleep.”

Clear jacked his torso up onto one elbow, and he ran a hand through his artificial hair. “I don’t need to, but I can.” He explained in a groggy tone. “I was comfortable, so I guess I automatically fell asleep after you woke up. Is your head alright now?”

“Yeah. I’ll ask granny about it later, she’ll probably be able to give me some medicine to help with the headache. I’ll figure out a way to control it on my own.” Aoba stretched his arms out wide, wincing as a bone in his back popped loudly. Weight lifted off of the mattress as he did so. Clear stood beside him, collecting his clothes and replacing them on his body. He fumbled for a moment, picking out his own eyepatch from the two on Aoba’s dresser.

“Heading out?” The groggy young man asked, all while swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “You’re welcome to stay and eat breakfast if you’d like.” He reached over to collect his own patch off of the top of his drawers, wrapping it around his head. For a second he noted that the feeling in his hair was continually growing weaker, though it was still present. He made a mental note to ask his grandmother about that in addition to the headaches. He looked up to Clear, who nodded.

“Mhm. I’ll be back later tonight, if you’ll have me.” He responded. Aoba picked up a pair of already-worn jeans off the floor and smiled.

“Of course. But be careful about coming in through places other than the front door, it’s kinda scary.”

Clear blinked. “It’s... Bad for the heart, right?” He pointed to the spot on his chest where a normal heart would be, and possibly where his artificial one was located. Aoba paused for a moment, but he was sent back a memory of reprimanding Clear for bursting in through the veranda years earlier. He pulled his pants up his legs, and the ends hugged his calves for being too short.

“Exactly. So come in through the back door next time if you have to come so late, ‘kay?” He asked, and Clear agreed with a small noise from his throat. He made towards the sliding doors, opening them up and letting the morning air wash into Aoba’s bedroom. It was a sunny morning, and Aoba felt a flutter in his stomach as light washed over Clear’s pallid body.

“May I leave through here for today?” He asked. Aoba stood up before he answered him, walking close to the artificial man.

“Mhm. But, one thing before you go?”

Clear cocked his head to one side. “Yes, Aoba-san?”

Aoba had been confident in walking up to him, but he still felt himself get nervous as he prepared to speak. “Would you... Wanna kiss me goodbye?” He questioned in a voice that gave away his drained confidence. What was he even doing, asking for things like that? He’d already been selfish enough with asking Clear to spend the night in bed with him.

“If you’d like, Aoba-san.” Came the other man’s response. Aoba made a startled noise, and turned to face him. He had just enough time to brace himself for lear’s lips on his own, pressing into him gently. He returned the slight pressure, holding onto it longer than he likely should have. But he was the first one to pull away, his eye locking gazes with its twin as soon as it opened again. Determined to prevent a moment of awkward silence between them, Aoba spoke.

“Have a nice day.” Was the first thing that fell out of his lips, and again he felt that it sounded far too domestic for whatever kind of relationship they had. He felt like a housewife kissing his husband goodbye as he went off to work. Maybe Clear had landed a job, he didn’t know. His mind was growing cluttered and nothing felt right save for the faint tingle on his lips.

“Right.” Clear said, much more concisely than Aoba would have liked, and he turned to leave. A hop, skip, and a jump later, the sight of Clear’s coat disappearing onto the rooftop met his eye. Aoba listened in closely as the android clunked across metal roofing and off to wherever he’d chosen as a destination, finally closing the veranda doors once he’d travelled out of earshot.

The blue haired boy tossed a shirt over his chest, and moved to where his allmate companion lay curled in a ball.  He’d nestled himself underneath the table in the center of Aoba’s bedroom before being put into sleep mode, and all the human needed to wake him again was to call his name. “Ren.” He murmured so as not to startle his partner. The familiar noise of his body starting up came with the canine lifting his head.

“Aoba.” He resounded, looking straight to his owner. Aoba lifted him up off of the ground, scratching behind his ear.

“Morning, Ren.” He greeted the allmate. “I think I want to go out again today, you up for it?” He asked, cradling his partner’s body in one arm as he grabbed a hair brush with another. Two weeks ago he’d never have been able to do both tasks at the same time, and he took a split second to admire how far he’d come in such a short amount of time. Meanwhile Ren wagged his tail at the suggestion.

“Certainly. As long as you are, Aoba.” He replied. His owner gave a small laugh at his excited behavior. He often resembled a human more than a dog, but the prospect of a walk had his tail wagging and his ears perked at attention. Aoba pulled off his temporary bag from his door handle, inviting Ren inside. The machine nestled right in, popping his head out of the zipper readily. Aoba was careful in picking his friend up and slinging the bag over his shoulder.

“Ready?” Aoba asked. The small allmate nodded.

“Yes. But before you leave, please take care to eat and drink something. You’ll grow exhausted from hunger and dehydration quickly if you don’t fuel your body.” Came the tip of advice from Ren’s speakers. He was mindful of his partner’s health as always, and Aoba was thankful.

“Yeah, I will.” Aoba assured him, taking off out of his bedroom and down the stairs.

Aoba made a quick stop in the kitchen for a slice of toast and a glass of water before heading out into the streets, also taking care to tell his grandmother where he’d be and for how long. Today he made the decision to head out into the busier portion of the old resident’s district, around Benishigure’s territory. Or where it had been, at least. Koujaku may very well have made the move to take Dry Juice’s turf over when Morphine destroyed the team. That made him think about Mizuki, and how he’d torn the man’s brain to shreds without the slightest notion of his own power.

He turned out onto an open street. His jaw dropped open by an inch, hanging in awe of the sight. People bustling around, wiry teenagers sitting in alleys curled over a coil or a cigarette, the glow of floating screens as they displayed ads and directed traffic along its way. This place was home. The man stood long enough fo Ren to poke his head out of the bag worriedly. “Aoba. You’ve stopped, is everything alright?” He inquired. Aoba turned to him and let a grin fall on his lips, petting the allmate to assure him that everything was well.

“Everything’s okay, Ren. I’m just happy to be home.” He muttered, moving into the flow of traffic and on to some unknown destination. He walked along and took in little more than the sight of the town, and honestly, he could admire even the dingiest little shops with his enhanced vision. Everything felt right again, even at the unusual height he found himself staring from, and despite the weight on his shoulders that hadn’t become accustomed to his arms. At the start he’d thought that everything would be weird with his new parts- but, on the contrary, life was proving to be just as good with them. Now he wanted to take Clear out and make him understand that feeling as well.

“Signal detected, Ren’s signal is at four metres away!”

Aoba turned as he heard a high-pitched voice not far off. He’s meandered to the mouth of an alley, where he stopped and listened for the voice screeching his allmate’s name. Then, from the corner on the other side he could see close to a dozen small cubes bouncing towards him. He took a step back in surprise, helpless as they jumped into his pockets and under his clothing.

“Hey, hey!” He shouted. He wriggled around and grabbed for the objects pervading his space. Finally he nabbed one, holding it tight between his hands like a bug. But instead of crushing the object, he opened up his palms. Inside was a small, cube-shaped allmate with some kind of black and green pattern on it. Aoba blinked, and the little thing went off again.

“Confirmed! Target Aoba Seragaki has been detected!” It shrieked. Aoba listened to ecstatic cries from the rest of the machines as they made their way off of his body, bouncing in sloppy formation. His eyes followed them until they met a pair of shoes, moving higher until he caught an emerald gaze.

“...Noiz?” Aoba questioned. The other man looked liked he’d aged, his shoulders were a bit more broad and his face a lot less lean. He must have been a teenager before, Aoba thought to himself. He was too busy being caught up in his own shock to notice that he was being grabbed by the hem of the shirt.

“Where the hell have you been?” Was the first thing that came from the blonde’s mouth. Aoba was getting used to this routine of interrogation, ‘where have you been’ followed by the question about his eye. Then the semi dramatic reveal of his altered body. It was starting to become a pain. So, he chose to be blunt.

“Oval Tower. They took me in for experimentation, and I escaped a few weeks ago when it came down.” He huffed. “Let go of me!”

Noiz did as told, releasing the smaller man. Back then he may have been shorter given Aoba’s altered height, but he’d grown just enough in two years to stand a half inch taller. “I thought you’d gotten caught up living in style with everyone else that’s allowed in there. Now it looks like you barely made it back in one piece. What’s up with your face?”

There it was. Aoba sighed internally. This time he grabbed the boy by his sleeve, and pulled him aside into the alley that he’d come through. Noiz again didn’t argue, following Aoba’s lead without question. Though, when released from the other man’s grip, his face had twisted into a pissy little pout.

“This is what they did to me. After I was caught, they ran all kinds of tests and experiments on my body so that my power could be used to control other people.” Aoba held out his hand. “They tore off most of my body after they’d done what they could to my voice. My eyes and limbs were gone, but a friend helped me out with new ones.”

“...” Noiz paused, looking at Aoba’s hand. “So, they’re prosthetics?” He asked. “They look just like a normal person’s.”

“Close.” Aoba informed him. “They’re actually from a series of robots that Toue made to replicate humans. So they’re the closest I’ll get to the real thing. So, they’re very good prosthetics I guess.”

One of the blonde’s eyebrows twitched at that revelation, but he kept his quiet about it. Instead, he posed a different question. “Do you still have your powers?” He asked, and Aoba saw something gleam in his eye. Something in him knew what direction this conversation was heading in. And with Noiz, he shouldn’t have expected anything less.

“As far as I know, yeah. They’re still there.” He responded. The last syllable hadn’t even escaped over his lips before Noiz had opened his.

“Fight me in Rhyme.” He demanded. The boy really hadn’t changed at all, Aoba told himself. Though it was annoying, it was equally as comforting to see that so little about his world had altered in his time away. Though his own life wouldn’t ever be the same, at least his environment was relatively stable.

“No.” He denied immediately. Though the question had given him an odd sense of nostalgia, his reply remained constant. There was a familiar ache in the back of his skull. Excitement, it felt like, but not his own. “I told you don’t remember how to play.”

“Then use your power.” Noiz persisted. “You knew how to play back then, because you used it. You should have learned a thing or two about how to control it by now, if they ran so many tests on you. I don’t mind if you go inside of my head, just as long as you fight me. I haven’t been looking for you for two years for you to tell me no now.” He had backed Aoba closer and closer and closer into the wall, and now the shorter man was pinned flat up against it. “I need you to fight me, Aoba.”

The blue haired man felt his skin crawl. Noiz tried to hold him down by the arm, but before he could be grabbed, Aoba blocked Noiz by catching his wrist. He pressed down hard on it, but the blonde didn’t even flinch. “I told you, I don’t want to. You don’t know what my powers can do to a person.” He hissed back, thinking to how he’d been his and Clear’s undoing. Mizuki’s destruction. His head hurt, he wanted to scream, everything hurt from his soul to his brain, and Noiz’s eyes pierced his own.

_Crack._

Aoba gasped as a sharp noise came from the other man’s arm where he’d grabbed it. He immediately let go, pulling his hand back. Noiz let his arm drop, and his face remained calm despite the immense pain that he must have been in. He lifted the arm up and rolled his wrist around to find that it had gone limp.

“Noiz...! Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know it was that strong-!” He didn’t get a response from the man, who turned tail. Aoba moved after him- but Noiz had melted into the crowd like rain into a puddle. Aoba knew the sound of cracking bone so well that it hurt, and he knew that Noiz’s wrist had to be fractured at least. However, the blonde hadn’t let on that he’d felt a thing. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. Aoba stared at his own palm for a long while. He winced when a pang of agony shot through his brain.

“Aoba.” Ren interjected from his spot in the bag. “We should go home. Your head is nearing critical levels of activity. Have your headaches returned perhaps?” The allmate questioned. Aoba pulled the bag that he rest in close to him and nodded his head affirmatively.

“Looks like it. I should go home and ask granny about it before I do anything else...” The boy trailed off, looking in the direction that Noiz had run off to. “I just hope he’s alright. I’ve been so focused on my body being weak, I didn’t stop to think about how strong these new parts must be. I’ll have to learn how to control it.” As he spoke, the blue haired youth turned to look down at his own palm, and the feeling of bone cracking beneath it still haunted the back of his mind. Shaking the feeling off, he moved to make his way back home again. Granny would be starting dinner soon, and he wanted to help out. The taste of her cooking was enough to take him away from everything around him. His stomach growled, and he picked up his step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Boy this fic is really picking up steam now, huh? I did a little bit of math and sketched out the rest of the story from here, and if all goes well, updates should start being spread out to every four days, and the fic should total up to be aroooound 20 chapters, give or take. I hope you'll all stick through until then! As always, comments, kudos, and fanworks in the #Aefae or #Fic: Aefae tags are always loved and appreciated! ^0^ Thank you!


	9. Flesh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated a day early again, mainly because I was bored. This chapter is kinda 'eh' for me, but I hope you all enjoy!

At least what Aoba had hoped for was a taste of his grandmother’s cooking. However, it would seem that other plans had been made on short notice. He came home to find his grandmother laid back on the couch with her feet sitting in a hot bath of water. She looked more relaxed than he’d seen her in a long time, and Aoba wondered what had gotten into her until sounds began to echo out of the kitchen and into the living room. Firstly he released Ren from the bag on his shoulder, allowing the puppy allmate run to investigate the noise. The young man followed along, socks padding against the wooden floor beneath him.

As soon as Aoba crossed the threshold into the kitchen he was met with the sounds and smells of food being prepared, just as expected. However; the sight that met his eye caught him off guard. There was a flash of metal and white hair, and something pink that billowed around.Clear stood in front of the counter brandishing a kitchen knife, a pink apron wrapped around his, thankfully, clothed body. Aoba recalled kicking the android’s naked ass before, and how upset Clear had been when scolded for his actions.

The knife in his hand, however, brought a number of different memories to mind.

“Aoba-san! You’re home.” Clear turned around, revealing a number of vegetables in the process of being chopped on the counter. There was a large thing wrapped in white paper as well, and Aoba could only assume that it was meat of some sort. A roast or a chicken if he had to judge it by size alone. “I’m making dinner, so you and Ren-san relax if you’d like. Leave the chores to me!”

Aoba blinked. “Why the sudden urge to help out?” He approached the android with anxious caution. He told himself that there was nothing to fear, that he’d let Clear cook for him during those days before he’d been brought home, but he was still scared. His heart rate was picking up quickly, and he could feel Ren move to stand at his feet immediately as he caught the increase in his heart rate. But, Aoba’s unease was soothed somewhat by the smile on the android’s lips as he worked away on the meal.

“Tae-san told me that she was woken up by the noise that I made coming in last night. I wanted to do something to make it up to her. I thought that preparing dinner for you all would be the least that I could do.” He explained, rocking the blade against the cutting board to cut a potato into cubes. “I gave her a massage as well, and if her word is anything to go by, I’m good at it.” Clear informed him. As he spoke he began to unwrap the meat from its white paper casing. Just like Aoba had thought earlier, wrapped inside was a thick red hunk of beef, sitting fresh in its own translucent juices. “Just gotta trim off some things here and there, and this should be ready for the oven.” The robot noted mostly to himself.

Aoba felt like he was going to be sick when Clear took the knife he’d been holding to the meat. He took a breath. “Clear. Let me do that. You can work on making sure the pan’s ready to go in the oven.” He physically reached out for the knife, gently taking it into his own hand. The other man looked at him for a moment, with genuine confusion, but he nodded his head and went on his business a few feet away. Much to the human’s relief, he hadn’t caught on to Aoba’s sense of anxiety.

Holding it firm in his wrist, Aoba took the knife to the meat himself. He had no idea of what he was doing; he realized as he stared the chunk of animal flesh down. Clear had mentioned something about trimming the fat off of it. Pressing the blade into the meat, Aoba sliced at the thick layer of yellowed fat clinging to the side of the roast. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle when a white glove came into his field of vision. There was a moment’s pause before it came to rest on top of his hand, gripping the handle of the knife with him.

“Aoba-san, it’ll help if you hold the knife this way.” Clear told him. He sounded nervous, probably from the touch. Aoba felt his nerves jumping as well, but he didn’t pull back. Clear turned his hand where it lay on the knife, tilting the blade to a different angle. The larger hand guided his through the motion of cutting the blubbery substance away. Aoba felt a gentle pressure on his hand while Clear’s moved. His anxiety started to peel away from his flesh as he thought of how their hands were so similar, artificial flesh wrapped around metal working together. It felt like he was being taught directly the best way to use this body.

“Thanks.” He muttered through his dense thoughts. Clear removed his hand from the knife handle, moving across the kitchen to dispose of the trimmings.

“No problem. Everything should be ready to go now.” Clear removed his gloves, hefting the meat up and placing it into the pan. Some seasoning was dashed over the top, gently patted in, and Aoba watched as it was placed in the oven. Cooking was one thing that really seemed to make Clear happy. Maybe he just liked it, or perhaps he’d been programmed from the start to think of it as a fun task rather than a chore. Aoba didn’t want to think of Clear as nothing more than programs designed to like this and that, do one thing better than another, calculate and estimate. The android had something human in him, he knew, but it was having a hard time showing itself again.

He tensed. Shooting into the back of his head, he felt pain move into his skull. He couldn’t help but jump, and both Clear and Ren stood at attention.

“Aoba.”

“Aoba-san.”

The boy felt embarrassed by the cries of concern around him. “Sorry. I should probably sit down, now that I think about it.” He rubbed the back of his head in an attempt to ease the pain. Clear nodded as he set about cleaning up the mess that he’d made in preparing the food. Meanwhile, Ren took to his side loyally. Aoba exited the kitchen, his face twisted into a grimace from the pain invading him. He knew that it was the creeping presence of his other persona, lurking in his head. He took a seat beside his grandmother in the living room. As much as he wanted to keep hiding his troubles from her, there was nothing that he could do in this situation but seek her advice.

The woman had been resting her eyes. When the couch whined under Aoba’s added weight on the other side, she lifted one eyelid to peek at him. The water sloshed from where her feet had been soaking as she sat up, noticing the strain on her grandson’s features. She took note of the hand pressed to the dip of his skull. “Aoba. Are you still having headaches?” The old woman asked him carefully.

Aoba took his hand away from his head, keeping his eyebrows pressed together.” I just started feeling it again last night. I thought... After everything in there, I stopped getting them for a while. I guess they decided to come back again.”

Tae’s gaze kept on him, full of concern. “Your powers may have suppressed themselves while you were locked away in that tower. I can’t know how they’ve been affected by the experiments that were run on you.” She placed her hands in her lap thoughtfully. “Now that everything involving Toue has finally come to an end, it may be best if you try to exercise your powers and learn to control them. There’s a significant chance that they could grow beyond your control if you don’t teach yourself how to keep a hold on them. I would keep giving you medicine like before, but I don’t know if that’s enough to keep them at bay now.”

“Mm. I’ll do what I can.” Aoba agreed. Holding onto the hope that he could find a way to control his powers and the self within him was all he could do for now  From what he could tell, he’d never been able to use them consciously. The other persona inside of his head kept a hold on the puppet strings of his voice’s ability. And if he wasn’t, then Aoba had used it on accident. He had little clue of where he should begin to look for answers. But for now, the pain was subsiding, and he hoped that he would at least be allowed a peaceful dinner without having to worry about the ‘other’ Aoba.

He watched his grandmother go back to sitting peacefully. Aoba hoped that his return had put her at ease. All that time she must have worried, cried, believed him for dead. He silently wondered if Noiz had felt something like that too, and channeled it into his apparent desperation for a rematch in Rhyme. He would indulge him for fuck’s sake, despite not knowing how to play the game anymore, but if his powers were thrown in... He couldn’t trust himself not to hurt the other man. There was no trust to be had in his powers while he had so little means to control them. All he could use them to do is hurt, and Clear was a prime example of that.

Just as his gaze sank to the floor, Ren hopped up into his lap. Aoba smiled, and he let himself lay his head back and close his eyes for just a few minutes. He paid close attention to the sound of Clear shuffling about in the kitchen. For now he was probably busying himself up with things to go with the meat. The smell of it all had begun to drifting into the room, slinking over Aoba and covering him like a blanket. He could hardly keep from falling asleep like this, enveloped in home. Clear was a part of his ‘home’ now. Aoba wanted him to stay in his life, and he wondered if building a relationship was still so impossible as it seemed. Clear seemed happy for the moment, and with that thought, he could rest easy for the time being.Things like controlling his power and giving Noiz his rematch could wait until later.

He opened his eye just enough to get a glimpse at the ceiling. His patch was getting stuffy, and he wished that there was some way that he could take it off without disturbing anyone else. In his head the boy made a note to look into more comfortable styles of patches to wear over the empty socket. His ears perked up. A knocking came from the front door, and his gaze darted to the clock on the other side of the room. Hell, he didn’t even have to think about the time. Koujaku could smell Aoba’s kitchen from halfway across the island, and it had to be him come to snag a bite to eat.

“I got it.” The blue haired youth stated. By now he didn’t have to think too hard on how to coordinate his body parts anymore, the line between flesh and metal was close to seamless. The hardest thing to adjust to continued to be the way that his elongated legs stretched out the space between his footsteps. So it took just a second less to make it to his front door, thinking of some snarky comment to give his best friend about he was a bum for wanting to leech on his grandmother’s cooking. Or Clear’s cooking, tonight. Knowing the hairdresser he’d take it either way.

“May I take your order?” He drawled sarcastically as he pushed on the sliding door. The young man blinked, and for a second he thought that his eye had suffered some kind of malfunction. Instead of the flash of red he expected from Koujaku’s usual kimono, he was met with the view of slate clothing covering a much larger frame than what he’d been expecting. He had to tilt his head up to see the person’s face, a man for sure, and he couldn’t place the identity of the person at his door. Blue eyes glowered down at him with an intensity that almost hurt.

In fact, the first sight of the man didn’t trigger his memory at all, but his scent. One breath around the imposing figure felt like a slap to the face with a cinnamon stick.

“Mink?” Aoba breathed. He felt the man’s gaze on him sharpen uncomfortably. “What are you doing here?”

“...So you really are alive.” The man didn’t reply to any questioning, only stating that. There was a sliver-thin hint of relief in his voice. “May I come in?”

Aoba blinked at the question, a startled little noise jumping out of his throat. Mink looked less than patient, so the younger man stepped to the side, inviting him in. The last he remembered of Mink, the man had kidnapped him and helped him rescue his grandmother when she’d fallen to the hands of Morphine. Or rather, what Dry Juice had been turned into after Toue’s people got their hands on them. But he distinctly remembered Koujaku telling him that Mink’s gang had been involved in the search for him, so it only made sense that their head would come looking on the news that he was alive. How did he even find out?

That’s right. Noiz.

Mink’s footsteps were heavy under his huge frame, and to Aoba’s mild surprise, he was polite enough to remove his tall boots where everyone else’s shoes sat in the entryway. It was hardly what he expected out of the leader of Midorijima’s most infamous band of thugs. He kept himself from becoming lost in his own thoughts, leading the man inside.

“Dinner’s almost ready, you’re welcome to stay.” He offered, trying to converse with the man who’d asked entrance into his home. He felt scrutinized under the taller man’s stare, and he could distinctly remember Mink’s ability to figure things out about him before he even knew them himself. For all he knew, the man could see right through his clothes and to the gears beneath his fake flesh.

“Mm.” Came a response from the man. It didn’t seem to carry any affirmative or negative connotation with it. Aoba made a mental note to set the table for four anyway.

He led Mink around the corner and into the living room. Clear had migrated there in his time away, making some sort of conversation with Tae while food rest on the backburner. Both of them turned their eyes, or eye, up to meet the pair. The android looked to be processing the memory of who Mink was. Meanwhile, the old woman curled her lip upwards in annoyance.

“If it isn’t the island’s other residential mooch.” The old woman jeered. Mink huffed at her, and continued on his way to the kitchen as if it were his own. There was a fleeting moment where his attention fell on Clear’s face, and his missing eye opposite to his own. Aoba’s eye saw him depart across the room, and then it darted back to his grandmother.

“Mooch?” He asked dumbly, his mouth hanging open even after he’d finished speaking.

“That’s right. For about a year and a half he’s been showing up with Koujaku every once and a while. And the two of them eat more in one sitting than you could in a day, so don’t think I missed cooking too much while you were gone!” The woman barked intentionally, as if to tease the man that was lurking about in the kitchen. Aoba digested the thought for a moment. Then, light bulb flickered on inside of his head. Aoba took a fair amount of pleasure in realizing that Mink had probably tagged along to keep his grandmother company. Or maybe Koujaku just forced him along so that they could discuss search and rescue strategy together. Though, Mink seemed pretty comfortable in his house as it was.

Clear appeared to be thinking something similar, as his look had softened out of surprise. He pulled himself upright from where he’d been bent over the back of the couch. “Should I have made more do you think?” He asked the old woman, pressing the fingers of one hand to his chin. Tae waved her hand at him.

“I’m sure that there’s more than enough to go around, don’t you worry.” She assured the android. “Just make sure none of it burns.”

The white haired man jumped, and then bowed his head. “Right away Tae-san.” He replied, scurrying off into the kitchen with Mink. There was a thick scent floating out of the kitchen, melting in with the smells of Clear’s cooking. Coffee, it smelled like. He didn’t remember ever having a coffee pot. He hadn’t run an inventory of the kitchen since his homecoming either, so it didn’t come off as a surprise.

Aoba sat back where he’d been before, Ren waiting for him as if to keep his seat warm. He lifted the allmate up and sat him back on his lap. Aoba scratched behind his ears. “Sorry you can’t eat dinner with us. I’m sure you’d love it.”

“I don’t doubt Clear’s cooking skills. However, if you should ever wish to indulge me, my Rhyme form is always available.” The pup responded. Aoba laughed in return.

“We’ll see.” Aoba replied. From the kitchen he picked up the sound of heavy footsteps and the shrill creak of the oven door as it was opened. As Mink exited the kitchen and took the living room chair as if it were his own, a mug in his hands. Chains rattled against the porcelain. The scent of coffee mixed with that of cooked meat being lifted out of the oven. Surprisingly, they complimented one another.

From behind him Aoba could hear the sound of dishes being set out on the table, landing with a soft clunk, one by one. It wasn’t but a few seconds later that Clear’s voice floated out of the kitchen. “Come and eat!” He called. Aoba held Ren in his arms as he stood from the couch, then moving to put the allmate down. Ren’s pawpads hit the floor, and he gently shook out his fur. Aoba watched his grandmother raise her body up as well. Once on her feet, her hawk-like glare fell on Scratch’s head. There was only a second’s glance between them, but the man caved in, standing from the chair and bringing his mug with him.

All five of them found themselves piled into the kitchen within a moment. A sixth joined when a sharp tap came in the direction of the kitchen window. Clear raised the pane up off of its sill, allowing for a large pink bird to fly in through the opening. It took to Mink’s shoulder, and Aoba recognized him as the man’s allmate. Tori, as he’d been so poetically named.

Clear gave a small bow of the before he sat down, slipping his apron off. “Please eat up everyone, it was a pleasure to be able to prepare a meal for you all. I hope it’s to you’re liking.” He stated, and then pulled up a seat for himself. He and Aoba were side-by side, while Tae sat at the head of the table, and Mink across from them, his eyes cast down.

Aoba was the first to take a bite, and his face lit up at the taste. He noticed that this would be his first time having the android’s cooking as made with proper ingredients again. It was delicious, but not over the top like anything he’d been served in Oval Tower. He hummed in satisfaction, letting the artificial man know straight away that he approved of his work. Soon after, forks and knives were moving and scratching against plates.

“I’m glad you like it.” Clear had his eye turned to Aoba, though he addressed the other two as well.

Aoba ate, waiting for questions to be brought up. There was the topic of the eye to be touched upon, the ‘where have you beens’ and other such inquiries. Mink had been very quiet so far, whether out of not having a chance to speak, or out of a need to gather information first. He’d probably already put two and two, or rather one and one, together to figure out what had happened to Clear’s eye.

“Is he dead?”

Silence. Mink posed the question so quickly that none of the other residents of the table had time to be prepared for it.

“Who, Mink-san?” Clear asked in return.

“Toue. I need to know if he’s dead.” He spoke in a tone that cut sharply enough to have Aoba’s grandmother looking on edge. “No bullshit. I have to know if he made it out of that tower alive or not.”

Aoba blinked. He had no idea why Mink would be so concerned with Toue being alive or dead, unless he had some kind beef like he and Clear. He opened his mouth to answer. “I’m not su-”

“Yes.”

The android’s voice cut him off before Aoba could push out another syllable from his lips. There was an unsettling certainty in his voice, and an expression that Aoba didn’t care to remember resting on his features as well.

Mink’s eyes cut into Clear long enough to allow Aoba’s heart rate to pick up substantially, half of his face hidden behind a coffee mug. He sat it down, breaking eye contact with the machine. “Alright.” He said, and that was it. No more questions, no interrogation or demands for explanations, all he made time to do was finish his meal before politely excusing himself again. He left without much more than a ‘thank you for the meal’. He exited with the sound of heavy footsteps and the wings of his allmate flapping behind him.

Aoba’s grandmother sighed through her nose, her own plate empty as well. “I hope you weren’t lying.” She mumbled. “That man’s been through just as much as the two of you, and he was bent on destroying Toue because of it.” She confessed.

“Just... As much?” Clear murmured curiously. The old woman lifted herself up from her chair to excuse herself from the table as well.

“It’s not really my place to say. He only confided in me because I took part in some research pertaining to him. Just like Aoba, he was a test subject that escaped.” She told them while placing her dishes in the sink, as if they were all taking part in some kind of casual conversation. “I hope he can find some ease now that it’s all over. Now, I’m going to go lie down for the evening, try to keep it down if you’re going to be running around on the rooftops.”

Clear looked embarrassed, but he nodded his head sheepishly. “I understand, Tae-san. Good night.” He meeped.

“Yeah. Night, Granny.” Aoba told her, an anxious sort of weight in his stomach after th news that Mink had also been subject to Toue’s experimentation. It explained quite a lot about his character. Instead of trying to pick up life where it had left off, however, Mink had for some reason walked down a path of revenge. His reasoning couldn’t be determined.

Tae nodded her head at both of them, and disappeared down the hall. The soft click of her bedroom door echoed down the hallway and into the kitchen where the two young men sat. They picked at their food in silence, eventually turning their dishes into the sink for washing in the morning as well. Aoba turned the robotic man, his voice soft to keep his grandmother resting easy.

“Staying tonight?” He asked. Clear thought for a moment, staring out the kitchen window. Darkness had fallen; light from street lamps creeping into the kitchen where they stood.

“Mhm. But just for a little while.” The android agreed. Aoba was just as fine with him staying or going, though he’d like to repeat the night prior if he ever could again. He finished tidying up the kitchen, and Clear helped without ever having to be asked. Lights were switched off, doors were locked, and Ren was put into sleep mode and placed under Aoba’s bedroom table. Aoba’s room was a container for their presence.

Aoba removed his eyepatch, ready to flop into bed as soon as Clear made his exit. It was always heavy and stuffy after a long day of keeping his empty socket covered up. He and Clear made idle conversation about dinner and the day, but the azure haired boy skipped over his chance bring up the scuffle he’d been in with Noiz. That was between him and the Rhyme obsessed brat, and he’d find a way to deal with it soon enough. Noiz would be breathing down his neck again soon enough, of that he had very little doubt. But for now he focused on indulging in Clear’s company.

“Aoba-san?”

Aoba blinked. He must have trailed off in his own thoughts while Clear had been taking his turn to speak. Now he was met with a concerned gaze. He smiled and shook his unresponsiveness off.

“Sorry. Just a little sleepy.” He explained.

“Ah, I see. I should be going then, you need your rest.” Clear stated.

Aoba spoke up quickly. “Kiss?” He asked simply, growing bolder in addressing what he wanted. Clear didn’t appear to be object, and Aoba found his face crawling closer to his own. He twisted his face to the side by just an inch to keep their noses from bumping together. He took the kiss with his mouth parted just slightly, experimenting with licking Clear’s pallid lips. They were much less firm than he remembered them being when his had tongue rubbed against them before. There was only a split second of time that could have passed for the android to process a reaction to Aoba’s sudden push forward.

The smaller of the two felt his heart rate pick up tremendously when he felt a warm, slick organ against his own. From there he took Clear’s forearm into his hand, pulling him close so that he could lock their lips and tongues together. His shock made him want to shiver as Clear reciprocated every motion that he made with his tongue, massaging the underside of his own. His tongue felt so much different from the cool, slimy appendage that he pulled from his memory. A rogue moan leapt out of his throat and into Clear’s mouth.

As if it were a cue, Clear pulled away at the sound. Aoba had barely come to realize how out breath he’d actually become over the course of their heavy kissing. He panted to revive his lungs, and Clear wouldn’t make eye contact with him. He stood up and did a walk of shame to the bedroom door while Aoba was to out of breath to stop him. He bowed slightly, wished the younger man a curt ‘good night’, and vanished behind the bedroom door.

Aoba huffed frustratedly, flopping back onto his bed like a pouting child. Clear had definitely been upset by the sound he made. But if he didn’t want to kiss him like that, he wouldn’t have kissed back, right? Maybe, Aoba told himself. He didn’t even bother with nursing the half-mast shaft in his pants. He could deal with it some other time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Heads up that the next two chapters are gonna fill in holes that would have been patched up by the natural flow of Clear's good end, and it'll focus on Clear and Aoba's development as individuals, and hopefully provide some resolution for the other characters in this AU as well ;> And as always, comments, kudos, and additions to the #Aefae and #fic: aefae tags on tumblr are always appreciated!


	10. Chains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaay, time for a chapter that's got lots of Mink in it just before his episode airs! Also some heads up for things like choking and violence in this chapter, but nothing too extreme. Also, since Aoba will be entirely absent, there's a soft shift to Clear's POV. 
> 
> But while I'm here, I want to shine the spotlight on people who have made fanarts for the fic! My biggest thanks goes out to tumblr user Neorize, who's made a LOT of art for the fic, and even a radical AMV for it too (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9znLeRiQAcM) In addition, I want to thank tumblr users Owbutt and Squidsickles for drawing lovely fanart as well! I'm so flattered by everything you people have contributed, and it inspires me to keep writing this thing to completion!

Clear hurried home through the barren streets, planning out every step from Aoba’s home back to the dump where he was the sole resident. Ironically enough he lived amongst the trash, snug where he felt that he belonged. That’s all he could have been, being so selfish as to try and touch the person he’d hurt in a way that would just put them in pain again. Aoba would get over his fantasies soon enough, and Clear wouldn’t have to worry about the guilt of wanting to fulfill them anymore. Aoba-san was sick after all, surely not well in the head, and recovering after that torture. That’s what the android made himself believe, at least.

He didn’t bother to pop open his umbrella like he normally would while he made his way along the street. The weight in his mind kept his arms pinned down, and his hands stitched into his coat pockets. If the stars came down from the night sky and hit him in the head, well so be it.  Clear entered the dump through the rusted gates, quickly weaving his way through the mounds of scrap and rubble that led to his home.

“Wah-!” He gasped as a banging noise came from behind him. Whipping around, his one eye looked frantically for the source of the clamor. He caught something moving from the corner of his view, and held himself steady. A cat, sleek and black went skittering across the space between piles of garbage, and dipped into another just as soon as it had come. Clear shook his head at the sight, and continued on his journey to the ramshackle little house that he called his own.

He pulled out his key and turned it in the lock of a door that could have been easily knocked down anyway, and stepped inside. Every time he entered he noted the way that the scent had changed since his grandfather’s passing. The man had no way of knowing how long he’d been ‘asleep’ between the old man’s death and Aoba’s voice waking him again. Maybe it was months, years. Could have been so much as a decade. As soon as Aoba was well again, he’d put himself to sleep, but he’d be sure to never wake up again. His body would live in a coma, still but breathing all the same, and he’d never have to face anything so scary as death.

He took to his own bedroom, meandering through the dark of the house. Right now he wanted to sleep. He wanted to escape all of the disgustingly wonderful things that Aoba made him feel by kissing him like that. He didn’t want to accept that he wanted to kiss him more, touch him more, in ways that wouldn’t hurt him or make him upset. But how could a machine accomplish something like that? He thought as he dragged his yellowed bedsheets back. The mattress screeched below his weight as he lay down, then quieted once its occupant became still. Clear breathed deeply through his nose, willing himself into some kind of sleep.

Thunk.

Clear heard the noise from the other side of his house, and jumped out of his bed like it was a kind of trampoline. His heart shot straight into his ears, or whatever it was that kept his artificial blood pumping. He shook terribly, pinned against the wall on the other side of the room. Thud, thunk, thud, came footsteps carried by heavy shoes. Clear’s mind panicked, and he shrank down, trying to hide by covering his head and placing himself between the wall and the mattress. It was just some kid running around the dump that had come to check out the abandoned old house, that was it. And they moved closed and closer to his door with every labored breath that Clear took. He’d gotten rid of the knife that he’d once carried in his coat pocket, and he cursed himself for it.

His bedroom door opened. The android shrunk down even smaller, begging with his mind, please, please, turn the other way. The footsteps stopped. Clear made the mistake of looking up.

“M-Mink-san?”

He was pinned to the ground with hands wrapped around his throat in seconds. There was a massive crash as the bed was knocked a foot across the room. The mountain of a human being was on him in an instant, and Clear found himself with all limbs pinned and struggling beneath his weight. The white-haired android gasped for air in his artificial throat. He needed oxygen to keep functioning, and there were red lights going off in his brain that notified him that his airway was blocked.

“Let me go, what-”

Clear was cut off by a hand being shoved over his mouth. Mink’s eyes shone in what little moonlight permeated the closest window. “What the fuck did you do with him?” The large man hissed. “Don’t think I didn’t notice your eyes. Listen you wad of scrap metal I know what you are and what you can do, and I want to know why that boy is half of a fucking robot.” He increased pressure on Clear’s throat, threatening to crush the metal and rip his head straight off.

“I-I built them back on... After they were cut off...!” Clear squeaked between his frantic wheezes. He’d take much longer to suffocate than any real man, but he had a feeling that Mink would hold him there as long as he felt was needed. “Please, listen... I-I’m not here to hurt anyone! Let me go...” He begged.

“Really? Is that what you told my mother and father when you came into our house and scrambled their brains from the inside?” Mink pounded the weight of his shoulders into Clear’s neck, making the android cry out.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Clear sobbed, real tears in his eyes from the agony. “Mink-san, stop... I don’t want to die like this... please, stop...” He pleaded in a pathetic voice, the tone cracking in desperation.

And to his surprise, Mink let him go.

Clear gasped for air, filling his rubbery lungs and feeling heat inside from where his artificial body had started scrambling to process the oxygen. Mink pulled him up off of the ground, yanking him up by the shirt collar. Clear was no less than dragged out into his own living room, tossed on the couch, and left to sit in front of the tower of a man. The dark-fleshed human glowered down at him, a dangerous glint in his eye as he gave Clear an examination. The latter could only sit and wait, feeling at the mercy of this man as he kept him sitting there.

“Explain what happened to Aoba. No bullshit.” Mink demanded. “Is that even him, or just a robotic copy?” He questioned further.

Clear felt his throat tighten with anxiety as he spoke up, afraid to say the wrong thing. He had no choice but to tell the truth, or suffer the threat of dying at this man’s hand. Just as he’d said, he didn’t want to die, not until he’d paid off his debt to Aoba. “We didn’t make it out of Platinum Jail because Toue captured us both. Aoba-san was taken for experimentation for a little while, and likewise I was taken and given new programming. I was made into something that didn’t think in terms of good or bad like a normal human. And I thought...” Clear paused, his shoulders quivering. “I thought it would be good for Aoba-san if I made him into something that wasn’t human, either. I didn’t ever stop to think about how much it hurt him, or that what I was doing might not have been right.”

“And so you ripped off his arms and legs and tore out his eyes?” Mink spat at him.

Clear’s head shot up. “Yes, but that’s not all of it!” He exclaimed. “Somebody fixed me so that I could go back to being like a human again, and I realized that I’d done something bad. I wanted to help Aoba-san, I love him, so I built him new arms and legs. I didn’t have any eyes but my own, so I can only be glad that the sizes were compatible.” His voice went from strong to wavering in a state close to tears. “Then, whoever fixed my head was able to deactivate most of the systems keeping the tower standing, and it came down. I was able to get Aoba-san and Ren-san out of there myself.”

While he’d been speaking, Mink had removed a lighter from one pocket, and a long pipe from the other. Despite his thick fingers he handled it carefully, igniting it, taking a long drag. The smoke was thick, but Clear’s lungs were up to the test of inhaling the fumes. “ And you think that giving him prosthetics will fix things? Trading your own eye is enough for all of what you put that boy through?”

Clear pointed his nose towards the ground, white hair falling over his eyes. “No. It’s not enough. Nothing I can ever do will make Aoba-san normal again. But I did what I could.” He muttered remorsefully. “I don’t know why he has any faith in me. He doesn’t think I’m a bad person, because he was able to use scrap on me, and for some reason that means that I can’t just be metal. I don’t know how to feel.” The android’s thoughts spilled out of his mouth like water.

“Scrap?” Mink questioned suddenly.

“Yes. That’s Aoba-san’s power to enter people’s heads.” Clear replied.

“I know what it is. But he was able to use it on you?” Mink shot back.

“He did. It didn’t work, but he was able to get inside at least.”

Mink took an extended breath from his pipe, looking away from the android for only a moment. Then, in a turn of events that made Clear wanted to jump out of his skin, Mink sat down beside him. His body came down with a heavy thump, and he crossed his legs over one another. The larger man looked perplexed, or at least that’s what Clear took the expression to be.  

“Mink-san...?” The metal man cheeped nervously.

“A piece of metal can’t beg for its life.” Came from the larger man’s mouth as he reclined back against the couch. Clear turned his head to the side, confused.

“Well, I’m also made of things like latex, heat resistant glass, some rubber, teflon, and some other things. I’m not all metal.” Clear listed off the ingredients of his body as a way to reply to Mink’s statement.

“None of it human parts. And yet, a robot wouldn’t beg for its life, or beg for forgiveness, or feel remorse for what it’s done. It doesn’t have a life to beg for.” He paused, and Clear didn’t have the nerve to speak up. “You’ve never had the scent of something that isn’t human. You’ve even had your soul pried at.”

“My soul?” Clear was visibly taken aback. Had that place inside of him been a ‘soul’? He had little knowledge of the concept itself. He only understood it as something that was supposed to be inside of living things, their personality in a sense.

“Mm. That boy has to power to tear at them and control them, destroy them if he wants. He reeks of death.” Mink loaded more of the matter he was smoking into his pipe.

“So, you think I have a soul?” The white-haired man asked after him.

Mink grunted. “Perhaps. You were never born, and for a soul to come of something that wasn’t given life throws off the balance with death.”

“Throws off the balance...” Clear mused. Mink had told him a lot of things that were boggling to his mind. A long time ago, the thought of death had occupied him. Clear had no idea what to expect of it after his grandfather had died. What came of death? Was it simply the end of all things, that would take everyone with it eventually? He’d had a conversation about it once, with Aoba, but the memory of what they’d said to one another was slipping from him now. He looked at the ceiling like it would provide answers.

“What do you think happens when we die?” He asked absentmindedly, throwing the conversation off track.

Mink turned his head towards him, blinking. He let out a short sigh. “Personally, I believe that once we pass on from this world, our souls are returned to God and the spirits of our ancestors.” He stopped. “There are some who’d say that we just stop existing, more or less. It’s hard to know for sure until we’ve died for ourselves.”

“That sounds scary.” Clear looked back down to the floor.

“Not if you use your life, it’s not.” Mink responded. “One is given life, and then eventually they’ll die. Both are equally sacred, and death isn’t a thing to be feared.”

Clear sat and let those words churn in his mind for a moment. “I was built, and one day, I’ll break down and won’t work again. Is that anything like life and death are for humans?”

“I suppose it’s the next best thing.”

“I never thought about it like that.” Clear noted suddenly. “It’s good to be alive then, just like it is to be dead, right?”

The dark skinned an nodded his head. “Yes. I feel like I ‘died’ long ago, but I remember a time when being alive was good. My body’s kept moving, because I had a mission.”

The android blinked several times, leaning forward. “Died? You look alive to me.” Clear raised one hand, and he pressed two fingers to Mink’s neck. He immediately felt a grip on his arm, and the eyes of a hawk pressed on him intently. The smaller man jumped.

“Ah- I mean... Look, you’ve got a pulse!” He meeped. “I can feel it, your heart is still beating. If you could say that something like me, a piece of metal, is actually alive... I don’t want you to think that you’re not. You’ve got a human body that was born and is gonna die, but you sound like you don’t appreciate it.” He shrunk down, head pulled down down almost completely between his shoulders.

Mink let him go again. There was an unsettling quiet that lasted much longer than felt comfortable. Clear gulped fake saliva. “I’m sorry, Mink-san. I shouldn’t criticize you. I don’t understand, I’m not in the right place to know what life and death are really like.” He apologized, worried that he’d upset the man.

“Don’t.” Mink told him firmly. “I can understand why someone like you would be jealous. Your soul has manifested inside of something that it was never meant to be inside of, and it’s understandable to be bitter if someone else doesn’t value the one they were given naturally.”

Mink stood up then, extinguishing his pipe and stuffing it back into one of his coat pockets where it had originated. His long coat followed him as he made for the door. Clear sputtered, watching him make his way to leave so suddenly.

“Mink-san, where are you going?” He blurted out. As if he wanted the man who’d tried to kill him sticking around for long.

“Home.” Was the only reply that Clear received. Unsatisfied with the answer that he’d been given, the mechanical being pressed further.

“Where’s that? I’ll come visit you.” He offered.

“It’s far enough that you wouldn’t want to follow.” Mink replied. “Now that I know for certain that Toue is dead and gone, this island has no place for me to be on it anymore. I’m going back home, where I belong.” He informed the curious android.

“Ah... If that’s what you want to do. You don’t look like you were born anywhere around here anyway. You must have come from some place pretty far.” Clear had turned his eye away for a second, and when he rolled it back to look at Mink’s back, he’d made it to the door. “Mink-san! Just one more thing!” He called out, scrambling to a standing position.

The taller man huffed, finally looking back at him. “What?”

“Thank you. For telling me that I’m not just a thing.” Clear blurted out. “It... Means a lot to me, for you to tell me that I might have something like a ‘soul’.” He sounded ridiculous, and Mink had a look that told him that he was more than peeved to be held at the door. But his face softened, just for a second, and it vanished behind layers of hair as the man turned away once more. Clear thought that he was going to leave without saying anything more to him, but his low voice fell into the air one more time.

“Thanks for showing me that mine’s still there.”

There wasn’t any time for Clear to follow him after that. Once Mink had crossed the threshold of his home to the dump outside, he decided that it wouldn’t be worth it to pursue him. But the words that the man had left him with rest like a stone inside of his gut, digesting slowly. He had a soul. Something that could be entered, permeated, controlled or covered up. Aoba never could have used scrap on another Alpha. Clear was the only one.

The man carried himself back to bed, pulling his sheets off of the floor from where they had been tossed away in the scuffle. His body and mind were heavy, and his throat felt too sore to keep his head up. Crawling back into bed and hiding under the covers like a bug was the best thing that he could have done for himself in the moment. He placed a hand over the cavity in his chest that harbored something that worked like a heart. Then, he pressed a finger to his wrist. His blood was fake, but it flowed. His heart was fake, but it slowly beat to accommodate the lack of energy needed by Clear’s body as it prepared for sleep.

He felt alive. I wasn’t anything exhilarating that made him feel whole or any better about the sins he’d committed. Living was a simple thing, and he’d be stupid if he didn’t appreciate it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! A chapter based on developments that haven't been filled in by things that would have happened in the good route. Next chapter will focus heavily on Aoba, and the things he's missed out on. But don't worry, these are just side quests that tie in to the main plot line of the story ;) I'm actually getting into writing the last few chapters, so it'll all be finished and I'll just have to worry about updating every four days or so. But anyway, thank you for reading!! And as always, additions to the Aefae and fic:aefae tags on tumblr are always lovely to see in any way, shape or form!


	11. Gauze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, as promised, the aoba-centric chapter. It's personally my least favorite out of all that I've written so far, and I'm around 6 chapters ahead at this point, but I think it's good enough to publish as is. So, bear with it, because the chapters after this one? They're gonna be rad as hell.

“Hello, and thank you for calling Junk Shop Heibon! How may I help you today?” Aoba chimed into the speaker. His voice flowed out naturally, the usual hypnotic ring almost impossible to keep under control. If his power would draw in more customers, then so be it. He’d used it before unwillingly, why not try to find somewhere to begin with controlling his powers? That’s what he had in mind at least when he’d started taking calls at the shop again. He’d started work days earlier, a month exactly after he’d woken up again. Getting back into the swing of life was more exciting than he could have imagined.

“Yes, I was calling to see if you had a part that I need in order to fix up my coil. A delta series chip, number 903 should work fine, but anything in the 900 series will fit.” Came the voice from the other end of the receiver. A man whose voice came off as strained. Aoba felt shivers up his spine as it came through, but he assumed that the caller just had some kind of issue with speaking, and carried on with the conversation.

“Okay! I’ll check the system now and see if we’ve got it on hand. He replied, his voice a trill coming from his lips. He tapped away at a few keys at his computer, looking up the name of the part that the man on the line had described. “Well sir, we’ve got just a couple in stock if you’d like to stop in soon and pick one up.”

“...I see. Will you be working there today?” The voice drifted out of the phone and into Aoba’s ear. So this was another pervert, so soon after he’d come back to work? Had these people been calling for two years and just never given in? He thought back to the memory of the scratch member who’d tried to end him over his voice.

“I will sir.” Aoba replied. He tapped his fingers on the desk, and like lightning, an idea shot through his mind. He gulped softly enough so that the customer wouldn’t hear him. “But you don’t want to come in today, do you? You’d rather look at some other shop, right? I’ve been so rude to you until now anyway.” He spoke with intent, purposefully putting a twist on his words to make them come out just right. This was stupid, it wouldn’t work.

“You’re... You’re absolutely correct! I won’t be calling here again, you ungrateful brat!”

Beep.

The call was ended, and Aoba was left to stare dumbly at the phone as a tone rang through it. He’d  grasped some kind of control over it. His power had changed the man’s mind, with nothing more than his voice. On purpose. He lay the phone back on the receiver gently, blinking at it. He was learning to control it. And if he could, then maybe he’d be able to chase away the thing inside of him that longed to destroy.

“Aoba.” Ren called out from his perch on a stool several feet away. “Did something go wrong with that caller? You appeared  to be quite dismissive of them.”

Aoba smiled at his allmate, a gentle reassurance that everything was alright. “He was being a jerk, you know how all those perverts would call me? Guess they’ve found me again. If my voice drags them in, I should be able to throw them away with it too.” He kicked back triumphantly.

“You need to be careful, Aoba.” Ren told him with a stern tone in his voice. Normally the puppy model wasn’t one to take up a tone, but now he seemed wary of Aoba’s use of his power. “You might hurt somebody.”

“I know. And thats why I’m trying to use it. I want to figure out how this works and learn to control it before it gets out of hand. Granny said there’s no other choice unless I want to go back to how I used to be, when I was some kind of punk.” Aoba kicked back in his chair, reclining and tossing one leg over the other. “Gotta start somewhere, huh?”

Ren was silent for a moment, his gaze fixed on Aoba for a long moment. “Yes, I suppose that you’re correct.” He lay his head back down on the stool, watching the empty shop. Aoba wondered what his partner thought about. With a brain that was connected to the internet, the possibilities were virtually endless. Aoba felt a pang of guilt knowing that most of the fluffball’s time was probably spent worrying about him.

The clock rolled around to the end of Aobas shift, and he stood up. “Haga-san, I’m heading out!” He called to the shop owner. The old man could be heard shuffling through boxes in the back, the occasional thud coming from something that had gone flying. Aoba collected Ren and placed his small body inside of his shoulderbag.

“Ah, alright! Have a nice night Aoba-kun!” Came the man’s voice calling back. Aoba made sure to shut down the shop’s main computer before heading out, the doorbell jingling behind him as it closed. Aoba looked up and through the walls of buildings that reached for the clouds. There weren’t many of them to be seen, a few wisps of grey here and there, but beyond the buildings was a blue sky. Summer was so close that he could taste it, though he’d spend most of the time recovering and getting back on his feet, starting work again was the biggest step he’d taken yet. He could remember a time where walking down the stairs seemed like the end of the world.

Absentmindedly he peeked at his coil. It had been a gift from his grandmother on the account of ‘surviving or a month on his new legs’. However, Aoba was inclined to believe that it was actually so she could keep in touch with him if anything happened while he was at work all day. It was a newer version of his old model, a wristwatch-type device. The blue translucent screen hovered above it, displaying news and weather. He jumped up as a call started through, Koujaku’s face lighting across his vision.

Aoba stopped in his walk down the street. With a press of the button he received the call, the screen moving to show his friend on the other end. His hair was disheveled, and at first Aoba thought he’d just gotten through a round with a girl and was calling to brag.

“Aoba!” Koujaku sounded like he was in a panic. Okay, not bragging about a girl then. “Where are you right now? You just got off work, right?” He asked. Now Aoba’s friend looked like he was running, and the sound of his sandals hitting the ground proved that observation.

“Yeah, why? What’s wrong?” Aoba questioned hastily. “Are you in trouble?”

“I don’t have time to explain right this second, meet me at the corner up ahead. I’ll explain on the way there!” Koujaku commended, and swiftly hung up. Aoba was left reeling for a moment. But he closed the screen on his coil, grabbed the strap of his bag to support Ren’s sleeping body, and took off to the corner where Koujaku had told him they would meet up.

Almost immediately after he’d emerged out onto the curb, he saw a flash of red clothing barreling at him. “Koujaku, what the-” He was stopped short by his friend grabbing him by the hand and pulling him along. “Hey, where are we going?! Koujaku!” He snapped.

“Mizuki’s up, I just got a call about it!” The older finally explained. Aoba felt a twinge in his heart that made him want to stop. He didn’t want to see Mizuki. He’d failed scrap with him too. He’d fucked up with one of his closest friends even harder than he had with Clear. He slowed down considerably, coming to a stop.

Koujaku was yanked along to a halt as well. He whipped his head around, looking at Aoba. “What are you stopping for? We’ve got to go see him!”

Aoba looked at the ground. “Koujaku... I put him in a coma for over two years. Do you think he’ll want to see me when he wakes up? It’s my fault that any of this happened to him in the first place.”

The kimono-clad man knitted his brows. “Do you think it’s your fault? That morphine team came to him and he agreed to mix Dry Juice with them. They used him as a tool to get to you, yeah, but Mizuki was just trying to do good for his team. If he hates you now then fine, but you should be there for him if he’s you still consider him a friend.”

Aoba kept still for a moment, thinking. If that were true, then he really wasn’t at fault. And if Mizuki hated him, well, avoiding him for the rest of his natural life couldn’t be too hard. He nodded his head swiftly. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

Ten more minutes of running landed them at the hospital where Mizuki’s body had been kept. Aoba was shocked that his longtime friend hadn’t had the plug pulled on him a long time ago. But here he was, being led to his room by a nurse. He and Koujaku were cautioned to be gentle, as their mutual companion was shaky in his first hours after waking. The nurse opened the door for them, calling Mizuki’s name softly while she entered. Aoba hesitantly followed after Koujaku, watching Mizuki’s head bob up from where he’d been sitting. The room was dimly lit, likely to keep the strain off of his eyes. Mizuki’s hair had grown out considerably in the time he’d been out; recognizing him was almost impossible.

Yet a familiar pair of green eyes narrowed in on them. Aoba noted the blackened tattoo on his neck as well. “...Koujaku? And... Aoba?” He called out in a small voice. The blue haired boy remained completely silent, his throat shriveled dry and tight. Looking at his friend again threw him back to their experience in scrap. Mizuki’s begging for help, his screams, Aoba’s own failure to help him. He’d never control his voice like that.

Koujaku took a seat in a chair that fit in close to the bed. “Yeah. We came as soon as we heard... Are you okay?” The raven haired man kept his voice low as he spoke.

“Yeah. It’s been two years, has it? I’ve actually been awake for a few days, I’ve been too out of it to talk until this morning.” He stopped, and turned to Aoba. Mizuki blinked, and pointed to the blue-haired man’s face. “Did I do that?” Mizuki indicated Aoba’s eye, unsure of himself.

Taken aback, Aoba quickly shook his head. “No, this happened after... Y’know.” He wanted to say Scrap, but Mizuki wouldn’t have a clue as to what he was talking about.

“Was it one of my guys? The ones that morphine brainwashed?” Mizuki questioned Aoba further. His voice was still weak, and it seemed to waver thinking that he’d hurt his old friend.

“No, it wasn’t caused by anyone that you’d know.” Aoba assured him. Mizuki visibly relaxed, leaning back into his pillows. He opened his eyes, and had to part his overgrown bangs away from them.

From Aoba’s side, Koujaku piped in. “Need a trim?” He laughed as Mizuki had to fiddle with his hair. Tucking it securely behind his ears, he managed a slight grin.

“Yeah. I do, if you’d be willing.” He told the hairdresser. His attention was turned back to Aoba again. The blue haired youth wanted to shrink under his scrutiny, but he didn’t turn from him. “Aoba... Do you remember what happened back there too? Or was it all just a dream that I thought up while I was out?” He asked. Koujaku blinked, but kept his peace.

Aoba swallowed. “Yeah. It was real.”

Mizuki looked down at his bedsheets, emitting a slight hum. “So it was... I don’t know how everyone else just disappeared all of a sudden, it as just me and you, and then the next thing I know I’m waking up here. What happened?” He pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to will his memory into coming up with some kind of explanation.

Aoba pinched the fabric of his jeans nervously and he felt Koujaku’s gaze falling onto him. His childhood friend looked at him as if to ask ‘is the truth the best thing to explain?’. That question was heavy on Aoba’s mind as well. He sighed through his nose, and loosened his hands.Mizuki deserved to know, if anyone. The rebuilt man’s mouth was dry as he started to speak once more.

“I was just as confused at the time as you were though, and that’s why any of this even happened in the first place.” He spoke, and Mizuki looked over to him. “I found out... After that happened, granny told me where I came from. I was born as another experiment of Toue. From the time I was born, I’ve had a power to control people with my voice. If I’m in a lot of emotional distress, my voice will change in response to it. I even have the power to enter somebody’s brain if I know them well enough.”

“So... That was inside of my own head?” Mizuki interjected. Aoba gave a short nod in response, then continued.

“If I would have known what I was doing, then I might have been able to manage pulling us both out of there without getting hurt. But I said the wrong things when you asked me to help you- and in the process, I ended up damaging your head enough to put you in a coma.” He raised a hand to touch the patch over his right eye. “My eye’s gone because I failed to save someone else in their head.” Aoba noted that with every word he spoke, he sounded increasingly more crazy. It must have been absurd enough for Koujaku to start in from beside him.

“It’s true. I was there when Tae-san explained it all.” He cut into their conversation.

Mizuki sat back once again, sighing through his nose. “The power to put yourself in someone’s head, huh? Sounds like something out of a video game. But with everything that happened to me and my guys with Morphine, I don’t doubt it.” He grinned. “Aoba, thanks for putting a stop to me back there. And tell your grandma I’m sorry when you can. Things got out of control, and I’m to blame for putting my whole tie in harm’s way after thinking joining Morphine was a good idea.” He scratched the back of his head, looking away ashamedly.

Aoba felt his stomach turn. Deep in the pit of his gut he wanted to argue with Mizuki, that he shouldn’t apologize and that the whole ordeal had been his fault in the first place. He’d been used as a tool that Toue could use in order to get a hold of Aoba. But oppositely, Aoba had been completely unaware that he’d ever had the power to make or break his friend with scrap. They were equally guilty and innocent. But Aoba still felt a burning in his stomach, shame and regret and a need to take it all back and atone. Koujaku reached over and placed his hand on his forear, and Aoba’s brain lit up with pain for a lighting strike of a moment. In that flash, he was led along to a single thought:

This is exactly how Clear feels around you.

The pain subsided as quickly as it came on. Aoba knew the sensation of his alternate self intervening, and the echo of his voice rattled off of the inside of his own skull. But now he was gone, as if he only felt it was appropriate to butt in for a second. Aoba could feel Koujaku’s worried gaze on him, and for a moment Mizuki’s features slipped into a look of concern as well. But the one eyed man straightened himself up, took a deep breath, and smiled in spite of himself.

“It’s alright. Toue was using you to get to me anyway, it’s not your fault.” Suddenly the reality hit him, that Mizuki was safe and sound even after he’d come close to killing him. He made a sound caught between a laugh and a sob, his back hunching over and hand lifting to hide tears. “I’m just glad that you’re really alright. I thought that you’d never be able to wake up again.” He wiped at his cheeks with his hands, careful not to press the metal too hard against his own face.

Mizuki sat forward. “Hey, hey! Don’t cry Aoba!” He blurted. “It’s fine. I believe you. Now that I’m up, I’m feeling fine and ready to start Dry Juice all over again- and no matter what it takes, I’ll make it great myself. I don’t need the help of any mythical teams to make mine legendary.” He had stars in his eyes as he spoke, determined to jump back into life as it had been as soon as he could. In doing so his hair swooped back over his face. He blew it away. “But I think I need a haircut first.”

All three of them laughed enough to make the guilt wash from Aoba’s shoulders. His head was sore, but he accepted the pain in his skull. If Clear felt like this, and he wanted Clear to forgive himself, then there was no point in being critical of his own choices. He indulged in laughter and the long-lost company of his friends, and his body had never felt more natural since he’d woken for himself.

 

Dark had fallen upon the island by the time the two childhood friends left the hospital so as to allow their friend to rest. The air was teetering on the edge of summer, but lacked the heavy humidity that typically came along with it. Aoba stepped along lightly, listening to the rotating sound of Koujaku’s sandals and his boots against the asphalt beneath them. He’d sent a message to his grandmother explaining why he was late, and to pass the message along to Clear should he turn up at the front door. He felt bad for leaving the android on the line after what had occurred between them some nights prior, but Mizuki had been first priority. The other man hadn’t shown up aside for a few minutes one day, seemingly in a rush to get somewhere.

“Hey, you mind if I hang out at your place for a little while? I’m itching for a smoke.” Koujaku asked, giving Aoba the ‘I’m your best friend’ look as he spoke. Aoba didn’t see any problem in lending his childhood companion some time at his home. Just as long as he kept quiet for his grandmother, it would be alright. He didn’t expect Koujaku to go bounding off the veranda and across rooftops, so he’d be fine.

“Sure. Just be careful, Granny’s in bed by now.” He advised the older man. Koujaku heaved a long, dramatic sigh.

“Ugh, we should have left sooner! I’d rather have one of Tae-san’s meals than that hospital garbage any day.” He griped. Aoba chuckled at his behavior, turning down the beaten street that would carry them to his doorway. The pair entered slowly, dragging the sliding door across the track before stepping in like the floor was made of a pane of glass. Shoes were placed in the corner by the door, and they crept up the steps and straight into the younger’s bedroom. Aoba closed the door with a gentle clicking sound, and at last they had a bit of privacy amongst each other.

Koujaku made his way for the veranda like he’d said, and Aoba could already see him pulling a cigarette out of some pocket of his kimono. On his way he picked up the old ashtray that he’d been given, untouched from wherever it had last been left years prior. Aoba removed some of his heavier clothing from the day, placing the shoulder bag that held a sleeping Ren down onto the bed. His fingers moved to remove his stuffy eye patch, but then he remembered that the sight of his open eye socket would probably make his friend toss the shitty hospital food that he’d been complaining about. So, against his own comfort, he left it on, though not without taking note to look into more breathable options.

Aoba followed his friend out to the veranda, taking care to close the door softly behind him. Koujaku was already bent over the railing, wisps of smoke crawling into the night air above them. He teased the man by giving a small tug to his ponytail. “You know, one of these Akushima’s gonna come racing down here to put that thing out. Smoking isn’t allowed here, I’m harboring a criminal!” He dramatized, bending over with his elbows on the railing as well. From beside him the older man chuckled, a stray wisp of smoke slithering out of his nose.

“You think so? Maybe back in the day, but nobody’s seen that old coot since the time you disappeared. Seems like the yakuza stepped in instead, made things a lot more quiet. But they’ve died down since you came back.” Koujaku took a drag. “They were probably under that Toue bastard’s control. Seems like the guy had the whole island at his fingertips. I’ll be glad when things finally settle down and go back to normal.” He tapped the burning cigarette into the ashtray, with the silt from two years ago still lying untouched in the bottom.

Aoba looked to the street below. His eyes idly wandered with a pair of stray cats that walked along the road in search of scraps. A sigh must have left him at some point, because he felt his shoulders relaxing and his body slumping against the rail. Koujaku cocked his eyebrow next to him, placing both hands down. “Something the matter? I know you were friends with those two yakuza, virile and crisp or whatever, but you can’t be that upset that they’re probably gone.” The older of the two told Aoba.

The younger pulled his lip to one side. “It’s not that. Well, we the three of us were kind of close I guess, but only from when I was into rhyme back in the day. Not that I remember much of anything at all from back then. I just know that I met them, and they stuck around, and it was that way for a while.” He paused, peeking at the sliver of night sky that was visible through the buildings. “I’m just thinking about all of the people who were under Toue’s control. All of Dry Juice was brainwashed into doing terrible things just so that he could get a chance to grab me. In the end, they weren’t at fault for any of it, but they had to suffer anyway.”

“You’re thinking about Clear though, aren’t you?” Koujaku cut in. Aoba was taken aback, but his companion had an all-knowing sort of expression on his features. After a short pause, he turned from Aoba and took another puff from his cigarette. “I know you haven’t given me the whole story about what happened while you were in there, and you shouldn’t have to. I understand if you’d rather not relive what happened to you in there.” He told the younger man. Aoba looked down to the street again.

“Yeah... I just.” He shook his head. “I’m trying so hard to help him. He did things that he couldn’t help, they took the wires in his head and moved them around, he couldn’t have known that he was doing anything wrong even if he tried. There was something physical that kept him from processing the difference between good and bad. He thought that everything he was doing was helping, he had no idea, and it was Toue’s fault for doing it to him. Its my fault because I didn’t do the right thing when I tried to use scrap on him”

Koujaku listened, and when Aobas words stopped falling, he chose to speak up. “That’s right. I keep forgetting that he’s not a human like the rest of us. There’s no way that I can tell the difference, even if he looked it, he acts human enough.”

Aoba hummed in agreement. “Exactly. And I was able to use scrap on him too, where I couldn’t use it on any other model of his kind. He’s different. But even with all that, he had something physical holding him that the human part couldn’t break.” Aoba felt a knot in his throat, and he clutched the joint between his shoulder and prosthetic. “... Can I confess one thing? You have to promise me that you won’t go nuts or get upset.”

Koujaku blinked at the question. “Sure, you can tell me anything. What is it?”

Aoba pushed his eyebrows together. “You promise?”

“Yeah. I promise.” Koujaku replied quickly. Aoba had stood and tenses, but he returned to draping himself like a cat over the railing of his veranda.

“...Clear’s the one who amputated me and took my eyes out.” He confessed in a small voice. Beside him, Koujaku started up. But then, remembering his promise, he made an attempt to settle back in.

“Why?” Was all Koujaku could muster up, though his voice was strained with anger.

“Toue reprogrammed him so he’d do it.” That was a lie, Clear had done it of his own will, with no human inhibition to keep him back. “He thought that he was doing a service, that if I could be something inanimate like him, then I’d be happy. He never had the ability to think that maybe it hurt, that maybe he was going to kill me, there was something keeping him from thinking any of that. Just like Mizuki, when he was brainwashed. So I don’t blame Clear, but he hates himself like some kind of monster. Now he’s back to being normal, but he can’t accept that.”

Koujaku listened, and his one exposed eye was wide at Aoba’s revelations. He didn’t appear to have any gll in him left to speak, so Aoba continued on the conversation by himself. “Today, when Mizuki apologized and said that was the one at fault, I wanted to shout at him and tell him that I’m to blame for all the suffering that he and his team went through.”

“Aoba...” Koujaku offered him a deeply sympathetic look. But Aoba returned it with a weak grin, eyes cast off in the direction of some salley on the other side of his street.

“But then I thought... I didn’t do anything wrong. I used my power without ever knowing that it could do the damage that it could- I didn’t have any idea that it even existed. I never would have guessed that someone was out to get me, and that they would have used one of my closest friends to try and get a hold of me. I was just as clueless and helpless as anyone else, and I didn’t do anything harmful out of my own intention, so.... I don’t think any of it was my fault. But now, because of it, I’ve got a better perspective on how Clear’s been feeling all this time. I know why it’s so hard not to feel guilty after you’ve hurt somebody on accident. Or to be a puppet to something or someone that doesn’t know what its doing.”

Aoba stopped, and Koujaku had turned his eyes down as well. The cigarette butt lay submerged in the ashtray, finished and forgotten. He didn’t for a while, but from what his friend could tell, he was deep in thought. Aoba allowed him to sit and think as long as he needed to, almost expecting him to open up another cigarette and light it. But the raven haired man kept still, eyes locked on some far off object. “...Yeah. I think you’re right.” He mumbled. “If he was being controlled, if it was something that he couldn’t help. then he’s not to blame. You’re a good person for seeing that, Aoba.”

There was another pause. Aoba spoke, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s the least I can do, I guess. He did what he could to atone, after all, and I don’t think that he should have to live the rest of his life in regret. Sure, those two years aren’t just going to go away. They happened. But now it’s over, and like you said, I just want life to be normal again.”

Koujaku straightened himself up. “Yeah. Hey, I don’t mean to just run out after you got all of that heavy shit off of your chest, but there’s something I need to go do right now.” He inched his way towards the door, and Aoba turned to look at him. He blinked confusedly at his friend, perplexed as to why he was itching to leave so suddenly. Maybe he’d forgotten something important for running off to go see Mizuki. A girl was probably out there thinking that she’d been stood up, Aoba told himself.

He was curious, so he thought to ask before letting his friend run off into the night. “So fast? What did you forget?” He questioned, leaning his elbows and back against the railing so that he could face the kimono clad man by his door. Koujaku’s expression hardened into something stern, and it was apparent that he was lost in his own train of thought.

“There’s someone that I need to go see.” Koujaku told him. Aoba wanted to joke around with the other man and ask if he’d really left some girl waiting out there, but he seemed too stern in his expression for that to be the case. Something about their conversation had struck a chord deep inside of him, and Aoba didn’t bother with trying to hold Koujaku up for the sake of company. He nodded his head and gave a small wave of his hand.

“Alright then, go on. I’ll see you later.” He bid his companion goodbye, and without another word, Koujaku’s ponytail was vanishing behind his bedroom door. Aoba remained alone out beneath the moon and streetlights, listening to crickets as they chirped behind trash cans. He itched at his coil.

He wanted to talk to Clear now, but the other man hadn’t the money to afford one for himself. There was an image in his head of Clear out on the street, pandering for money so that he could eat, and he shook it off. That couldn’t be what he did during the day. Clear was just as fine with or without food, and Aoba knew that. Maybe it was just some kind of instinct to feel that the person he cared for should be well fed. Clear would have to find a job eventually if he was going to live by himself. Maybe he’d landed one, somewhere out there.

He stood out on his veranda for a while, wondering if Clear wanted to see him too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okie dokie! There it is, a long and boring chapter I know. I'm not the best at writing Mizuki! But thank you for bearing through it, because the next update is gonna be gr8. Thank you very much for reading! And as always, kudos and comments are the highlight of my day~


	12. Rubber

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! Updating a little early again. I think I might go from updating every 4 days to every wednesday and saturday, so I don't have to think of dates and stuff so much :3c this is one of my favorite chapters, so please enjoy.

 

“Haga-san, I’m heading home!” Aoba called. He found himself in a similar position to the day before, heading out of the shop after his shift had finished. His boss wished him a good evening from somewhere in the back of the store. Aoba’s allmate popped his head out from the zipper of his owner’s shoulder bag. He peeked at the human, then turned his eyes forward. Aoba gave him a quick scratch on the head, making his way out of the shop. The chime of bells attached to the door signalled his exit from the shop, door falling closed behind him. As he walked out into the middle of a pleasant spring afternoon, he thought of how badly it would have sucked to have woken up during winter. Snow was too sloshy and messy for him to want to have to learn to pull his limbs through, even with as little as the island saw.

Looking up, the clouds clung together in thin wisps, and the sun looked as if it would keep on shining on. Aoba kept on walking down a network of alleys, feet trained to carry him along the path between Heibon and home. “Hey, Ren. What’s the weather going to be like tonight?” He asked his partner, keeping his eye on the path ahead of him. A long time ago, he might have been able to see Dry Juice tags here and there along this street. Now even the Morphine tag art had been painted over or covered by flyers.

The allmate thought for a moment, pulling the information. “It looks like a thunderstorm is going to come through soon. It would be best for you to remain inside for the evening.” He responded. Aoba turned his eyes down towards him, letting out an annoyed whine.

“What? It can’t be, it looks so nice out right now.” He then turned his gaze upwards again, staring at the weak-looking clouds up above.

“Yes. Those are cirrus clouds, and they have a tendency to clump together to make clouds that  bring on rain storms.” The canine model explained in detail. Aoba laughed at his companion, and the small machine cocked his head to one side.

“You don’t have to go so in depth with it Ren, I trust your word enough.” He told his partner. Ren had a very good sense of judgement programmed into him, another quality that made him feel more like a human than an allmate. There was hardly a time when Aoba didn’t trust him with a decision.

Pop!

Aoba gasped when the noise suddenly burst into his ears. He was enveloped in a shadow, and the young man stopped in his tracks. Whipping around in place, his eye was almost met with the spine of an umbrella. He followed the object down to a white glove, a white sleeve, a sliver of yellow wrapped around even more white, and finally a pink iris caught his. Aoba relaxed, looking on as Clear held a transparent umbrella above his head. He still had that thing?

“Aoba-san, you should definitely listen to what Ren-san has to say. It could start raining at any moment now, so please, take care and hold his with you!” He offered the umbrella insistently, and Aoba took it. He looked like an idiot, standing there with an umbrella popped out over his head in broad daylight. And he couldn’t even make the argument that it was to help from keeping the sun off of his face. The translucent material let it shine right through, creating a kind of glare even. It was well suited in Clear’s hands. He just looked like a dork.

“Ah.. Clear, it’s still sunny out.” He stated dumbly, standing there with the umbrella held up in one hand. He squinted his eye suddenly “Wait a second- Clear? What are you doing here?!” he questioned the artificial man. How long had he been listening? Where had he come from? Probably a roof, somewhere.

The white haired bot jumped a little at the human’s sudden question. “A-ah, I’m sorry Aoba-san! I was just catching up so I could walk home with you from work, I didn’t mean to make you upset!” He apologized, and Aoba immediately felt guilty for snapping at him.

“No, it’s fine, I was just surprised.” He closed up the umbrella with a swish, carrying it at his side rather than in the air. “Why were you out here though? Were you looking for me?” Aoba asked him. Clear nodded his head in a timid fashion, twiddling his fingers together at his waist. His eye was cast in some unknown direction.

“Yes, actually. I was worried yesterday when I showed up at your house and Tae-san told me that you had rushed off to the hospital to see a friend.” He paused for a moment, and resumed contact with his old eye. “I just thought that I would walk home from the shop with you once you got off today, b-but if that’s too much, I can go home and come back another time, Aoba-san.” He mumbled, never reaching to take his umbrella back.

Aoba smiled. “Don’t apologize, you’re fine. Just don’t come sneaking up behind me anymore, okay?” He told the nervous android. Clear’s eye rolled back to look at him, and he straightened himself up from the anxious hunch he’d been in. Aoba nodded his head in the general direction of his house. “Come on then, let’s go before it actually does start to rain.” He started walking again, and Clear followed right behind.

The walk home was slightly tense, only because Aoba knew that they both wanted to bring up the other night. But, he wasn’t yet comfortable with outing to Ren his and Clear’s... Relationship? That term never seemed to fit. He always asked Clear things like ‘can I kiss you, can I sleep in bed with you, can I do this or that?’ and there was only ever an answer from the other side. That didn’t seem to be what one would call a relationship, but at least they were around each other and relatively at peace in each other’s company. That had to be enough for now, while Aoba did what he could to ease Clear’s guilt.  

“Aoba-san, what happened about to your friend in the hospital? It wasn’t Koujaku-san, was it? Should we go seem them?” Clear’s voice permeated the silence, rising above the gentle tap of their footsteps. He appeared to be concerned for whoever it was.

Aoba shoved his hands into the pockets of his too-small jeans. He still needed to find some new ones for his modified legs. You remember what happened back before we went into platinum jail? When Granny was kidnapped by Mizuki and the rest of Dry Juice when Morphine brainwashed them all?”

“Yes, I do.” Clear replied. “Ah- is Mizuki-san alright?”

Aoba nodded. “Yeah. He’s doing fine now, he woke up a few days ago. Koujaku came and dragged me off to go see him as soon as he got the news. From the looks of it, he’s doing alright. I thought that once I failed to Scrap him right, that he’d be gone forever and never wake up again.” He smiled. “But he did. Even though I fucked up back then, he’s on the road to recovery, and pretty soon he’ll be back his old self again. And the strangest thing is... He wasn’t mad at me. The first thing he asked was ‘oh no, did I do that to your eye?’. And when I apologized for what happened, he forgave me for it, because both of us made a decision that got us hurt, and he didn’t think that I was any worse of a person for what I did.”

He stopped, hoping that what he’d said struck a chord inside of Clear somewhere. Or a wire at least, whatever worked. There wasn’t much change in his expression however, and he kept on walking beside Aoba, peeking up at the sky for any sign of incoming rain. “Mizuki-san sounds like a nice person.” He commented. It would seem that he had nothing else to throw in on the matter, only that Mizuki had been kind in showing forgiveness. Aoba was slightly irked, wondering if he was flat out ignoring the situation’s direct relavence to their own, but he didn’t make his feelings obvious. That was a conversation that could be put off, as all he wanted to do was kick off his boots and relax for a while.

By the time the two of them arrived back at Aoba’s front gate, the sky had darkened considerably. “Looks like you were right, Ren.” He mumbled to his allmate as the sky rumbled above the three of them. Aoba was quick in allowing Clear to come inside, opening the door for him and letting the android go in first, before sliding the door shut again. He slipped off his boots, feeling satisfied as they both fell over with a thud. He left them sitting sloppily as they were.

“Granny, I’m home. Brought Clear.” He called out to his grandmother. He could smell food, and he wondered if Clear had missed his chance to make dinner again.

“Good, you made it before the rain.” She replied as Aoba drew closer to the heart of his home. He sniffed at the air to get an idea of what was cooking. Fried fish, if his nose would prove to be right. Clear followed behind him politely, though he’d invited himself in a number of times before. Aoba stopped to set Ren down on the couch, lifting him out of the bag he’d been so patiently sitting in. He hopped out of the bag, then onto the floor, where he could take a spot at Aoba’s feet.

Aoba poked his head into the kitchen, checking on his grandmother. He could sense that Clear was mimicking his actions, head peeking out just so he could see over blue hair. The old woman turned to them both, her brow twitching at the sight of the two ogling her business. She huffed, waving a pair of chopsticks at them. “Are you two going to stand there and stare like a couple of idiots, or are you going to help me set the table? She shot at them. Both men scrambled at her command, bumping into one another somewhere along the way. Tae only rolled her eyes, then turned them back to the pan full of hot oil on the stove.

Aoba and Clear both went about setting the table as they’d been asked, Ren being mindful to keep close but out of the way of footsteps as they sat out dishes and cutlery. No sooner had the last object landed on the wooden surface than Tae was laying food on the table. Aoba had been right, fried fish and rice it was. With a chant of ‘thank you for the meal’, the three dug in. Ren sat quietly by Aoba’s feet, chin on the floor. He was probably off in his own head, Aoba thought, exploring some field of the web out there.

Dinner was much better served at home than out of a container at the hospital. He loosened up his eyepatch to make it a bit more breathable. His grandmother had inspected the empty socket several times of course, but Aoba didn’t feel fine removing the object completely in front of anyone besides Clear and Ren.

He talked about Mizuki a little more when his grandmother asked about how he’ been. Aoba replied truthfully, and noted some parts of their conversation. The woman had comments to spare, while Clear kept his peace. Aoba wondered, only for a second, if Clear was jealous because Mizuki had been much better off after a failed scrap than he had. He turned to the android, concern laced in his pink iris.

“Clear. Does it all taste good?” He asked, trying to get something out of the white-clad man that sat across from him. Clear paused in aimlessly knocking the same ball of rice back and forth while he thought. He nodded his head, and placed the bundle in his mouth.

“Mm, it’s really good.” He answered, as if a full mouth would prove it. “Thank you Tae-san, I feel like a burden being here to eat all the time.” He swallowed, turning to Aoba’s grandmother.

The old woman grunted. “You may be a bum, but  I’ve gotten used to cooking for three people anyway. Don’t feel like you’re imposing too much. It’s better to have it all eaten than going to waste.” She told Clear. The man tucked his nose behind his scarf sheepishly, and turned back to his meal.

“Thank you, Tae-san.” He mumbled, slipping his chopsticks past his lips. Aoba turned to his food as well, knowing full well that his grandma’s harsh words hid a growing fondness for Clear in them. It made him glad to see that she accepted him enough to show her own brand of kindness towards him. When she starting throwing chopsticks and calling him an idiot on a frequent basis, then he’d really be glad.

Dinner was finished and Clear offered to tend to the dishes in return for the free meal. His grandmother accepted the android’s offer, taking to the bath afterwards. Aoba listened to the sound of running water and clinking dishes as he laid Ren out on the table. He opened up the back of the allmate’s neck, parting fur as he did so.

“Aoba?” The puppy type questioned by calling his name. Aoba pat his head with the other hand.

“Sorry, just checking to make sure you haven’t built up a bunch of dust. You were sitting there for two years, I don’t want you to overheat all of a sudden because you’ve got dust bunnies in your brain.”  He joked. Upon looking inside, he noted that there was a slight amount of buildup, but nothing extreme. He’d been completely closed up wherever they had been keeping him, so he was more or less in the same state he’d been in when they’d left together. He was thankful that Clear had even thought to hunt down his precious companion and bring him home safe before the tower fell. Recovering may have been impossible without the constant support and monitoring by the fuzzy machine.

Ren had laid his head down, allowing Aoba to peer at his insides. Satisfied that his condition would prove to be fine for a while, Aoba closed the latch on the back of his neck with a quiet click. He parted Ren’s fur to cover the latch once again, then lifted the small allmate up to face him. He pressed his forehead to his partner’s.

“Thanks for holding on for so long, Ren.” He murmured. He felt the puppy type’s ears switch backwards, and his tongue slipped out from between his teeth.

“The pleasure is mine. I’m so thankful that you’re safe.” The allmate replied, an artificial grin pulled up on his muzzle. Aoba ruffled the fur on his head, and set him back onto the floor. The blue nugget of fur took a spot curled right up by his feet, satisfied with his owner’s evaluation of his internal health.

“All done!” Clear chimed, placing the last dish onto a rack for drying and storing away later. “Is Ren-san alright?” he asked after the allmate, peeking down at him under the table. Ren blinked at him, but didn’t move to reply. Aoba answered for him in his silence.

“Yeah, he’s fine. I just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t full of dust and dirt after sitting in some random part of Oval Tower for two years. As an older model, he needs more maintenance when it comes to physical stuff like that.” His eye trailed down to look at the small allmate.

“Ah... I think I understand that feeling as well.” Clear responded. “Aoba-san, would you mind if I went into your bedroom? I’d like to take my coat and scarf off somewhere that they won’t just be laying out. It’s kind of humid.” He tugged at the green cloth. He had to be hot, Aoba noted, wearing that getup all year round.

“I was gonna head there myself. It’s probably because the storm’s about to come down.” Aoba told the artificial man. Looking out the window, it was unnaturally dark for this time of day. The clouds were thick enough to blanket out the sun, and they rumbled continuously high up above the island. Aoba stood, pushing in his seat as he left. The youth scooped up his shoulder bag and the umbrella that Clear had thrust onto him earlier, carrying them along with him. He made his way to the stairs, peeking over his shoulder. Clear had been still, but he shuffled along when Aoba looked back at him. He followed the other man up the stairs, and blinked.

“Aoba-san... Is it easy to climb stairs now?” He asked, voice quiet as it drifted from him. Aoba’s ears perked up at the inquiry, and he turned to Clear once he’d reached the top of the wooden staircase.

“Yeah. No problem. A month ago I couldn’t have done anything by myself, could I?” He laughed. “I guess that’s what proper care and a bit of willpower will do for you.” He opened his bedroom door, tossing the umbrella onto his bed and hanging his bag from the door handle. He closed the door behind them both, flicking on the lights to make the room visible. His night vision had improved with this eye, but not so much that he wanted to go fumbling around without any light. He removed his eyepatch, setting it on top of a random shelf. His hair had been up in the usual ponytail, but he let it down over his shoulders to rest. Maybe taking koujaku up on his constant pleads to cut his hair wouldn’t be such a bad idea. His hair nearly came down to his ass at this point.

Meanwhile, Clear had taken to removing his heavy coat and scarf, as he’d asked. Almost like it were instinct, he folded them up neatly and placed them on the nearest surface. He left his patch on, never bothered by body heat or stuffiness caused by the smooth metal socket that his Aoba’s eye had come from. He sighed through his nose, and Aoba turned to him.

“Aoba-san, about the other night-”

“Don’t say you’re sorry.” Aoba cut him off. “You’re fine.”

Clear looked to the floor, and then out to the veranda. The clouds were heavy with rain waiting to fall. “...I was going to ask if you’d let me try again, with you.” He mumbled. Aoba’s eyelids opened wide, and he turned to face the android.

“...Huh?” He questioned. But Clear had an oddly determined look in his eye, piercing him from across the room.

“I’d like to kiss you again Aoba-san. If you’ll let me.” He meeped despite his courageous look. “I was rude the other night, and I want to try again, if it’s something that you’d enjoy.”

Aoba felt like his heart was doing some kind of olympic-grade backflip. ‘Skipping a beat’ would be an understatement. Clear was asking if he could kiss him. He’d never asked for anything from him, in the physical respect, since they’d been freed. Aoba had been the one to ask and insinuate, to keep pushing and moving on Clear. Seeing him reciprocate even a little bit made him excited.

“Yeah. I you want to.” He stated, facing the other man with his empty eye exposed. Maybe he should have kept the patch on for this, he thought. It would be too awkward to put it back on now. Clear was nodding his head yes, and he was moving across his bedroom, and before he knew it their lips were pressed together. They stood under his bedroom light, silently, stuck still together.

Clear tried to moved his head back, and something flared up in Aoba’s stomach and in the back of head. “More.” He breathed, pulling Clear back to his mouth. Their mouths hit more forcibly this time, and Aobas tongue was guiding itself past the android’s lips and inside of his mouth. It was warm and wet just like anyone else’s, and he explored it with an unusual kind of fervor. He was spurred on more when Clear’s tongue went slipping over his own and towards his throat, rolling and sliding.

This time he groaned, and Clear didn’t pull away. His hands guided themselves to the larger man’s ass, he didn’t know why they felt so nice there, or why he was so greedy to touch him. His head was sore and light as he kept kissing the android, revelling in how human he actually felt. A drop of saliva from them both fell onto his shirt, and he pulled back. He wanted to start moving his lips on Clear’s neck, something in his head told him, but he kept himself under control. That would probably spook the other man.

“Was... Was that good enough Aoba-san?” Clear asked him, not the slightest out of breath. Aoba had to nod in reply, noting to try and breathe through his nose next time if he could. Breathing had been the last thing on his mind until now. “If it’s what you like, then that’s good.”

“Yeah.” Aoba stated simply. He wasn’t sure where to take the situation. There was one of two paths, he supposed. Continue on with making out some more on his bed, or to try and change the topic to something entirely different.  A burning in his mind wanted the prior, but opportunity struck in the shape of lightning. It flashed outside, and soon the sound of torrents falling on the roof could be heard.

“It started raining.” He commented, watching it come down on his veranda outside. Clear turned his face in that direction as well, frowning. It likely meant that he would have to stay the night again. There was an awkward quiet, and Aoba told himself that he’d have been much more satisfied with more kissing. He shuffled over to his bed, wondering if he could reignite Clear’s interest. He was playing some wild of game of go fish here, and he was determined to pick the right card. So he smiled at the android, rubbing the sheets next to him. Clear took the hint, sitting down at his side.

Aoba touched his arm first, pulling Clear in slow for another kiss. He didn’t let his tongue move until he was certain that he was kissing back, and wouldn’t move away. Pressure was on his lips, and then tongues were at it once again. This time Aoba felt the need to wrap his arms around the other body’s shoulders. Clear never argued.

And then, out of the blue, Aoba felt a groan on his lips. His eye opened for a second, but then it closed again. Clear was starting to relax. Aoba’s stomach grew hot with excitement. Here he sat in his bed, in his room, fixed and unchained and full of some feeling that well could have been love. One of his hands snaked down to rub Clear’s thigh, and the android became more vocal.

“Aoba-san...” He whispered into him sweetly. Aoba pulled back, slipping one hand down to his cheek. The tip of his middle finger rest on his eyepatch.

“Clear. Are you enjoying this too?” He asked.

“Mm... I like it.” He closed his eye. “But I’m scared of hurting you, Aoba-san. I’ll kiss you all you want, but I don’t want to go any further than that.”

Aoba hummed in agreement. “But, you like this right? You’re not just doing it because you know that it’s something I want?” He laid his suspicion out on the table, and Clear looked to him again.  

“Yes. I do want to kiss you, Aoba-san.” He answered. It felt like it was hard for him to admit, but Aoba was reassured to hear him say that the touch was mutually wanted. Clear’s hands had ended up on his hips at some point, finding that they were warm and comfortable there. Thunder shook the house- but he could have cared less.

Aoba took the hand off of Clear’s face and guided him onto his back, laying down on the mattress. He wasn’t going to do anything more than kissing, he’d promised, but he was hungry to see Clear vulnerable. He wanted to feel like his was in control, but at the same time, he didn’t want the man below him to feel trapped. “You know I’ll stop if you tell me to. Right?” He whispered, and he cursed himself for untying his hair. It was everywhere.

“Alright, Aoba-san.” The android replied. Aoba shifted, pressing their faces together. Now one of Clear’s hands curiously slid from his hip to his ass, and Aoba cursed his bravery as much as he wanted it. He was achingly hard, and he wondered if kissing would be enough to make him cum in his own jeans. Wind and rain rattled Aoba’s windows, but they seemed far off from where he and Clear were now, wrapped in each other and swapping saliva like a couple of teenagers.

Now they were both moaning and groaning, with little desire to hold back for fear of Aoba’s grandmother hearing them. The drums of thunder drowned their hums of arousal out, and Aoba couldn’t have been more thankful for the shitty weather. He pulled back for more air, and lightning struck outside.

“Aoba-san...” Clear breathed again. “I have to go home tonight.” He told the blue haired man.

“Sure.” Aoba told him, leaning in for another kiss. Clear had his hand on his chest, stopping him.

“I need to go home. Right now I think.” Clear wiggled out from underneath him, and was up throwing on his coat and scarf. The warm feeling in Aoba’s gut tightened into an anxiety filled ball in the pit of his stomach.

“Clear, what’s wrong? It’s pouring rain out there, can’t you wait until it lets up a bit?” He followed after the android, trying to get a hold of him. But, like a fish, Clear continually slipped just out of his grasp while he gathered his bearings.

“I’m alright Aoba-san, I just have to get home.” Those words made Aoba’s head hurt. He shrugged it off, following the white covered man to his bedroom door. Rooftops would be too slick to hop across at this point.

“Wait- if I went too far, all you have to do is tell me. Don’t leave me in the dark.” He pleaded. “Please Clear, I didn’t mean to upset you. I went too far.” He piled blame on his own shoulders, and Clear knitted his brows together.

“Aoba-san. You did nothing wrong.” He stated precisely. “I would have told you to stop if you had. But I need to go home. I have an umbrella, so I’ll be fine in the rain. I’ll see you tomorrow, please have a good night’s rest.” He bowed quickly, and left. Aoba was too pissed to follow after him, and the ache in his head increased as he heard Clar taking off down the stairs.

This was so fucking stupid. He kept on engaging Clear physically, and the moment something went further than he wanted, he stormed out of Aoba’s bedroom. It was frustrating, more than frustrating, it was infuriating. And Aoba didn’t have the will to tell him that it wasn’t okay to stop what he was doing and run away. He clutched his aching head and grunted.

“Aoba.”

Ren’s voice cut through the air, and Aoba opened his eye. It fell directly on Clear’s umbrella, left forgotten by the android. He lowered his arms, and anger turned into concern. “Oh no...” He muttered.

“Aoba, I-”

Aoba scooped up the umbrella. “He’s gonna get soaked out there, that idiot!”

“Aoba, please-”

“Just a minute Ren, I’ll be right back.” Aoba didn’t think to answer his allmate. He took off down the stairs, hopping across his living room and leaping into his boots. He was too frazzled to even think to open the umbrella, so he ran like an idiot, sprinting through the rain with a closed umbrella. Was Clear running too? How far could he have gotten in such a small amount of time?

“Clear!” He called out, jumping as a bolt of lightning came down. This was dangerous, but he was hellbent on finding the man. He called his name again, and turning a corner. He slammed into a soggy, silver heap of clothing. He tilted his head up, and his eye’s twin looked back. Rainwater fell into his eye socket, left uncovered in his hurry. Quickly Aoba opened up the umbrella, popping it over them both.

“You forgot this.” Aoba panted. He was soaking wet as Clear was, and the umbrella hardly did any good. “Why didn’t you come back for it?”

Clear blinked, taking his umbrella back in one hand. “Why didn’t you open it on the way here?” He questioned back.

“I don’t know. I wanted to get it to you faster.” Aoba answered him truthfully, too exhausted physically and emotionally to think up a fib.

Clear frowned. “Aoba-san, you have to walk back home in the rain now.” He muttered. “I can give you some dry clothes if you’d like to come home with me tonight. I know I left suddenly but.... I don’t want you to get sick.”

Aoba was thankful for his offer. He opened his mouth to accept it, but something cut him off. At first he thought a lightning bolt had hit him in the head, but it was worse than that.

“Go there. Get him alone and destroy him.”

Aoba’s expression turned blank. “No. I need to get home in case the power goes out.” He spoke, tensing his body. His voice threatened to leak out, and not the one that he wanted. “Granny needs me there. Besides, I’m already soaked through anyway.”

Clear looked sympathetic, but he took Aoba’s word. “Alright, Aoba-san. But please take care and hurry home.” He advised.

“You too.” Aoba’s headache combined with the water dripping from his hair made the feeling of his brain melting out of his body feel much more real. He couldn’t stand to say anything more to Clear, taking off at a run. The pain increased the farther he ran, and by the time he was out of Clear’s eye and earshot, he was ducking into an alley.

He shouted, and the voice inside of him threw a complete hissy fit. “Go back! Go back right now and break him, smash him up, you just lost the perfect opportunity!” It screeched at him.

“I won’t!” Aoba shouted to himself. “Last time I hurt Mizuki, and I hurt Clear, what good has any of this brought them? What good has it brought me?” He slammed his fist against the wall. “This is all your fault. If it weren’t for you, none of this would have ever happened, it’s because of you and your fucking obsession with destruction that landed me here like this in the first place! If you didn’t fucking exist, maybe I could actually be happy!” He bellowed.

The pain dissipated immediately. Aoba was left alone and dizzy, soaked to the bone with rain. He didn’t care enough to run home. he dragged his sodden feet along the road, rain forming streams that poured into gutters as he walked past them. Aoba heaved his front door open, slumping down against it as soon as he made it inside. He needed to cry. And he did, tears bubbling out as he sat there in a stupor. He wanted Ren, too.

It was then that it hit him.

He’d left Ren on.

“...Fuck.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! Shit Aoba, so careless of you, and careless of Clear as well. Scatterbrains! Anyway, thank you all for reading, comments and kudos are always very much appreciated <3


	13. Wire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: chapter titles are procured directly from my ass. Also, here we go! Sadly this chapter is again Aoba-centric, but in more ways than one ;)

Aoba sat in the doorway, sopping wet, reeling in the aftermath of everything that had just happened. Mostly the fact that his allmate had been forced to watch him swap spit with Clear for somewhere around twenty minutes. He held his water-heavy head, wondering if he shouldn’t just go back outside and crash at Koujaku’s for the night. His bedroom was likely a mind numbing place right now. He curled up into himself rather than making any effort to stand. His wet clothes dripped quietly, steadily forming a puddle under his ass.

A faint pitter patter echoed off of the stairs, the shadow of a blue ball hopping down each board. As if he couldn’t lift his body due to the weight of the water in his clothes, Aoba remained in his puddle of self pity as the allmate came towards him. The small machine slowed, stopped, and evaluated the state of his owner from a few feet away. Then his ears perked up.

“Aoba!” The pup called, skittering to the human’s side. “..You’re soaking wet. If you don’t change your clothes soon, there’s a high likelihood that you could become ill.” He stepped into the water, wetting the fur between his paws. Ren butted his forehead against Aoba’s side, nudging his partner’s body. “Aoba, you have to get up. Get up.” He told him repeatedly, insistently pushing on his owner’s side.

Aoba’s chest fell as a heavy sigh eased out of his chest. Metal worked with bone to heave his body off of the floor. Ren nudged him half way up, helping in what way that he could with his tiny body. Sopping wet hair clung to Aoba’s body, and suddenly he felt like he’d backtracked two weeks in his recovery. His metal limbs felt too heavy, and lifting his legs was a chore. Just as he fumbled, he felt a sturdy bump on the back of his leg. Ren pushed at him, trying to force Aoba forward. His owner tried to comply the best that he could, forcibly dragging himself up the stairs and towards his bedroom. Half way up, his voice rattled out of his throat.

“...Aren’t you upset?” He asked the allmate that was pushing him along. Ren tapped him with a paw to get him to lift his foot.

“Upset? I’m only concerned that you’ll come down with a cold, Aoba. I wish you had been more concerned about keeping yourself dry than running off to deliver an umbrella to someone else.” Ren replied, his automated voice soft as it flowed from his speakers.

“No, not about that. About the other thing.” Aoba told him. Just two more steps now, just a little more. Now his bed seemed like a sanctuary. He could see a sliver of light past his bedroom door, and there he could strip down and put himself in some dry clothes.

Ren hummed in his metal throat. “...I’m surprised, but it isn’t my business to tell you what you can and can’t do with other people. Physically or otherwise. It would be unfair of me.” He butted Aoba’s foot as he pulled himself up the very last step, making it onto the even ground of the second floor. He hopped right up besides his owner, accompanying him to their shared bedroom. Once Aoba had closed the door, the puppy allmate began to pull dry clothes out of folded stacks on the floor, dragging them towards his partner.

As his allmate busied himself with finding him fresh clothing, Aoba peeled the damp articles off of his body. He felt cold despite the warm air, still bringing down rain outside. Ren pattered over to his feet, mouth holding a tank top and pair of clean boxers that he’d pulled out of a stack somewhere. Aoba bent down, petting his companion’s head with one hand while he took the clothing with another. He didn’t mind being nude in front of the allmate. Ren had seen him ass-naked on more than one occasion, so he didn’t hurry to put them on. Instead, he took a moment to reply to the puppy type’s earlier comments.

“I didn’t think you’d understand. I thought you hated him.” He noted. Ren looked down, head still under Aoba’s palm.

“Hate isn’t the word that I would use. Distrust might be a more suitable way to put it. According to what he told me, he did awful things to you, and I’m afraid that he might do them again someday. He could always malfunction and turn into the same person that he was.” The blue puff of fur rubbed his head against his owner’s hand. “However, the same can be said of myself. If I were to contract a worm, or if a wire inside of me were to break, I could become someone unlike myself. That’s the hard thing about being a machine. So I understand if his wiring wasn’t completely functional, or if it had been altered, that he may have been different than he is now. Also, I’ve looked over your mental state, and I can conclude from our behavior around Clear that there’s no sign of emotional dependency, or anything else that would be influencing your romantic or sexual attraction to him. I wouldn’t have guessed it if not for a few moments ago. So I trust your decision, Aoba. But if you would, please leave the door cracked next time so that I can excuse myself.”

Aoba listened to him as he spoke, his heart softening up from the stress it had endured. At his last remark, he laughed, and stood to dress himself. “I’ll be sure to do that.” He while hopping into a pair of loose boxer shorts. “...But thanks, Ren. It means a lot to me that you think that way. I would hate for you to be mad at me.”

Ren only hummed in approval, watching over his partner as he pulled a tank top over his head. He had to pull his hair out of the back of the shirt, letting it fall down his back. Aoba blinked, and felt the strands that hovered just above his ass. He desperately needed a trim before his locks grew out of control and swallowed somebody up in them. Maybe it was time to let Koujaku have a go at him, he’d never let it go to these lengths of his own will before. At least the feeling in it had faded, so it didn’t hurt when he lay down atop of the blue mass.

Aoba pulled the covers over his body, rolling over onto one side. Ren sat by the bed, waiting to be put into sleep mode himself. Aoba dipped one hand down to the floor, lifting up the nugget of dark fur and placing him on his chest. The machine blinked at him, his tail swishing languidly from side to side. His eyes had a faint glow to them, unlike Clear’s, which were designed to be closer to a human’s in appearance. He was glad for that, he didn’t want to think that he’d be stuck with a glowing eyeball.

“I really am glad that you didn’t die while we were in oval tower. I was so worried about you. I thought that someone had probably thrown you away, or ripped you up and sold your spare parts.” He whispered to the pup, stroking his back. “Who else is going to push my dumb ass up the stairs like that?” Aoba whispered. Ren felt small and light on his chest. He remembered a time when he felt like a cinderblock on top of him. They’d both been small back in the beginning, before the period where his memory grew hazy.

Ren gave a small chuckle, and his tongue slipped out of his mouth. “I told you once that I’m grateful to be alive as well, but I’ll repeat it I suppose. I only hate to think that I failed as your allmate to protect you, Aoba. I’m trying my best to ensure that you recover fully and readjust to life in the outside world. I can’t imagine how long that time must have been for you, as I was only asleep for it all.”

“It was long, that’s for sure.” Aoba scratched behind his ear. “I’m happy that you weren’t awake, or it would have been a long time for you too. But I’m especially glad that I can talk to you like this, right now. I couldn’t bear the thought that I was never going to see you again.” He pulled the tiny allmate closer to him, burying his nose into the soft fluff between his ears. “I love you buddy.” He murmured. He felt Ren’s ears perk up against the side of his chin, and then they fell down again.

“...Likewise. If a machine such as myself is capable of an emotion as complex as ‘love’, then I would say that’s what I feel for you as well, Aoba. I’m eternally grateful to have you as my partner. And I hope to stay with you until the end.” The pup’s deep voice came against Aoba’s chest, latex nose pressed to his collarbone. The two reunited partners sat like that for a moment, the rain outside filling in the silence as it began to soften down to a drizzle in the street outside. Aoba lifted his allmate back up into the air, watching his tail wag.

“Thanks, Ren. I’m going to put you into sleep mode now. I’ve still got work in the morning to get to, and it’s late.” He placed his finger on the back of the allmate’s neck, waiting for his consent. Ren nodded his head slowly, pulling his tongue back into his mouth. Aoba pressed the button, feeling Ren’s artificial muscles slowly relax while his body shut down for ‘sleep’. He then placed the allmate beside him on the bed, deciding to let him rest there for the night instead of on the floor.

He felt like a part of him would be missing without his long-time companion, and if Clear hadn’t rescued him as well, it might be hard to even have the will to try and return to normal life. Ren was the only one who so readily and actively encouraged him in everything that he did, offering a voice of concern whenever he needed one. As he fell asleep slowly, Aoba wondered if there was a way that Ren could develop something of a soul, like Clear had. Maybe all machines with intelligence and the capacity to learn emotion could grow their own persona in some way or another. He fell asleep with his partner at his side, bundled up safe and warm underneath the covers with him.

 

...

 

Work at Heibon the following day was slow, as per usual. Aoba didn’t mind the peace that it gave him, able to sit in quiet at the computer with some time to think. He kicked back in the computer chair, his eye following the network of random objects that hung in a network from the ceiling. Pipes, wires, other stringy things that he couldn’t identify. He chewed a pen cap between his teeth, unaware of how it had even wound up inside of his mouth in the first place. He rolled it between his teeth boredly, denting the plastic under his canines.

His gaze turned to the shop door, and he looked idly at the empty street outside. Things would pick up soon, just after his break. It was a Friday, and normally a few people stumbled into the shop to poke around for a few minutes. Usually they left, sometimes he’d end up ringing out a customer with a couple of dug-up trinkets in hand. But for now, he wouldn’t be surprised if a tumbleweed came rolling down the street.

Aoba straightened up. A figured passed by the door, and it was enough to get his attention amidst all the nothingness in the street. He saw a quick flash of black and green, never turning it’s head as it walked past the junk shop. By the splotch of color on the top of the person’s head, Aoba could pick him out right away. He looked at the clock. One minute until break time, but Haga-san wouldn’t be looking too closely. He stood up and turned towards his electronic companion, sitting on the stool by him.

“Ren.” He stated, rousing the puppy type. The ball of fur lifted his head to look at him, never flinching as he was lifted and more or less shoved into a shoulderbag. Aoba was being a bit too hasty, but he wanted to catch up to the figure that he’d seen crossing the street outside of the shop.

“Aoba, you seem like you’re in a hurry.” The allmate stated. “Is there somewhere that you need to go while you’re on break? If you forgot something at home, I can call Tae and have her find it for you.” He offered, making it clear that he wanted to help in any way that was possible. Aoba shook his head, and then pat the patch of fur between Ren’s ear. He was already on his way out the door, and he forgot to tell his boss that he was heading out. He had roughly thirty minutes to accost his target and head back to the shop.

He looked both ways, and then turned in the direction that he’d seen the boy walking in. He couldn’t be far from the shop now, with the rate that he’d been walking. Aoba quickly came up to an alley, and followed through it in hopes that he’d catch his target before he slipped away. “Ren. Can you check and tell me if there are any other allmates nearby?” He asked. The small machine in his bag nodded his head, and a translucent screen hovered in front of his eyes.

“It would appear that there’s a concentration of several of them just ahead. My guess is that someone is carrying several of them at once.” His ears perked up. “You’re not hunting Noiz down, are you? He’s the only person that comes to mind that carries such a large amount with him at one time. He may be less than pleased to see you after your last encounter, you seem to have accidentally fractured his wrist.”

Aoba smirked. “Really?” He turned to his partner. “He told me back then, he’ll be fine if he only has one arm.” A smirk crossed his lips. “Say, Ren, how about we give Rhyme a go again?” The youth told his allmate, and the canine model jumped in the bag. He appeared to be physically taken aback by the question, but he settled back down within seconds.

“I’ll trust you, Aoba.” He stated, settling down into the shoulder bag with his nose just peeking out from inside of it. In the back of his head, Aoba felt a familiar ache. Good, he wanted to draw his other self out. In the split second that he’d been passing by the shop window, Aoba had seen a light bulb flicker on above his head. He was chasing something that could very well end him up in trouble, but he was willing to take the risk if it meant a positive outcome.

He turned one more corner, and grew worried that he wouldn’t catch up to the other person in time. However, just as Aoba had felt like it was time to give up, he saw a body several feet in front of him. He stopped, holding his hands out at his sides. The metal inside of him felt different from bone when he curled his hands into fists. “Hey!” He called out to the man on the other end of the alley. He watched him turn around slowly, coming to face the blue haired man fully. Even from a distance, Aoba could see the sling that one of the man’s hands was wrapped in.

Noiz lowered his eyes at him from across the alley, and took several steps towards Aoba. The cube-shaped allmates that hung from his waist made a small sound as he moved in the otherwise silent alley. “Did you come looking for me?” He asked, his green eyes snakelike as they looked at the other man. “I don’t want your apologies. If you aren’t interested in Rhyme, I won’t bother you. I think you made yourself clear last time.” He indicated the sling where his wrist lay tied up against his body.

Aoba tried to reciprocate the intense look. If anything, perhaps his eyepatch made him look more threatening. Of course, Noiz knew firsthand what his altered body was capable of doing to a person. “I’m not here to say I’m sorry. I’m here for your rematch.” He called out to the injured boy. Noiz’s eyebrows raised for just a moment, like he were amused at Aoba’s statement. They lowered again, and he released the cubes from around his waist. They bounced in formation on the ground beside his feet.

Aoba felt like the world around him was slipping away as light filtered into his eye, pixels distorting and creating a false reality around them. The same pattern that was printed on the sides of Noiz’s allmates lined the floor, and stood in massive statue-like protrusions as well. The whole world around them was themed around rabbits, and the sight of what looked like a furless rabbit’s corpse with a noose around its neck staring the players down only made him uneasy to be here. His head hurt even more, but he felt reassured about it all once Ren materialized by his side. His partner stood straight and confident, eyes shrouded by a hat, loyally waiting for orders.

Aoba breathed through his nose. “I need you to work with me.” He thought, reaching inside of his mind to communicate with the other one inside. He was given no verbal reply, but Aoba could still feel the being’s presence laying in his skull. He looked at Noiz from across the rhyme field, with his battalion of rabbits standing in a formation in front of him. He had his arms raised and a predatory glare in his eyes. Two years he’d waited for this, Aoba knew, and he wouldn’t hold back even if it meant dealing damage to his physical body.

“Your move. If you’re so confident that you decided you wanted to face me again, go at me first.” Noiz told him from behind his poised fists. “I’m going to crush you, Aoba.”

Aoba swallowed as his opponent swore in front of him. He stood motionless, still trying to get a rise from the alternate persona inside of him.

“I know you can hear me.” The words echoed in his brain. “You’re the one who was so good at Rhyme back then. I need you to help me win this.” He thought hurriedly. Noiz didn’t look like he was going to be patient. At this point, even Ren was looking at him with an itch to get going. Aoba almost thought that he wouldn’t get a response.

 _“You told me it was better if I’d never existed in the first place. Why do you want me now?”_  Finally the voice rang through Aoba’s head. _“It’s only because you need me to control the power, isn’t it? If I wanted to, I could eat you alive with it and melt you from the inside. You shouldn’t place your trust in me. Let him win.”_

“I was frustrated last night. I don’t want to fight with you anymore. If the two of us can learn to work together, then maybe it won’t be so hard for both of us.”

 _“...Together?”_ The voice echoed inside of him. Aoba hummed between his ears.

“That’s right. Me and you, together. As one person.” Aoba murmured to the second half of him. And all of a sudden, he felt his arm raising in the air. He could move to stop it if he needed to, he could tell, but he had a feeling like spiderwebs were pulling his body along.

“Noiz. I’ll destroy you.” The words fell out of his lips, and Aoba’s voice trilled with a tone that was growing too familiar. His opponent braced himself, cocking one eyebrow. Aoba turned his head to his partner, trusting the one in him to direct him. “Ren. GLORY.” He called out. Activating a program in him, the allmate moved out into the field.

“Roger.” He heard coming from the man his partner had morphed into. Ren sped off, black cloak billowing over him as he made way for his opponents.

“Defense.” Noiz spoke in a flat tone. The horde of bunnies struck up a defensive position immediately, giving a simultaneous cry of ‘roger’ as their owner commanded them. Ren struck in a blue haze of light, and Aoba could see an orange bar floating above Noiz move down just an inch. It had barely touched him! And yet, he felt a strange sense of confidence in his movements as Ren returned to his side. Not seconds later, Noiz was making his counterattack.

“LOSS!” He called. Aoba had to stand and watch as the barrage of white rabbits came hurdling towards them, but a command bubbled out of his throat.

“Ren, defense!” He called out. This time, Ren leapt in front of him, covering up Aoba’s body with his own to deflect the attack. Aoba heard him grunt, and above their heads, his own health bar went shrinking. “Ren, are you okay?” He cried in his own voice this time. His partner nodded his head, the sides of his hat batting against his ears as he did so.

“Tch, your allmate’s plain. I don’t know how you expect to win anything besides a training battle with this skeleton.” Noiz taunted him from his side of the playing field. Aoba grit his teeth.

“HONOR.” The voice leapt out of his throat, and his allmate obeyed. Again, Noiz cried for his allmates to defend. Immediately afterwards, he ordered them to attack. Aoba wouldn’t have been able to counter if it were just himself, but his other half caught the attack in the nick of time, and ordered their partner to strike up a defensive position. This time, Ren’s defense shield didn’t waver as much as it had before.

From that point, the battle between them was on. It was a constant barrage of different attacks from both sides. At points Aoba was hit, and he cried out from the pain, but he managed to endure for the sake of what Ren had to be going though in defending him. Noiz was struck several times as well, and as opposed to the real world, he would cry out while they were here. This pain was a hallucination of the mind. Aoba gave an inward gasp that was cut off by another demand.

“Defense shield is at zero percent!” A shrill voice called out. Both Aoba and Noiz were on their last legs, defenses worn down, leaving their allmates powerless to defend them from one another. Aoba’s head hurt. This was it, the moment that his alternate self had been craving, the time where he could bring his hammer down and crush Noiz like a bug.

“Wait.” Aoba thought. But it was too late, as the words were already flowing from his lips.

“Ren, Jubilation Set.” He commanded. Aoba watched his partner’s body morph into a massive canon, the rumbling of it all covering up Noiz’s words as he commanded his rabbits to counter the attack in some hope of defeating his opponent at the last second.

“No, call him off!” Aoba thought as Ren lifted his arms up into the air to fire. The other one wouldn’t listen though, it watched as Ren followed through with his order. At the same time, the horde of rabbits came flying at him, ready to blast into him. Aoba knitted his brows. Together. He couldn’t let his other persona control everything. Aoba made one final decision for himself, breaking the webs that his body had been held by until this point.

“Ren, stop!”

Pain, cries, flashing.

It was over in an instant. Aoba lost as he spared Noiz from the pain that the final strike would deal to him, and the imaginary world of pixels and data collapsed around them. He’d fallen to the ground at some point, and he sat there with his allmate laying at his side. Before anything else, he reached over to lay his palm on the blue lump of fur.

“Ren... Are you okay?” He breathed, suddenly panicked at the thought that he could have made a choice that would end up hurting his partner. But the puppy-type’s eyes flickered open, and he nodded his head.

“Everything appears to be well.” He replied, though his voice sounded like it was strained. Though he was reassured that his allmate would be alright for the immediate timeframe, Aoba turned to look at Noiz, still several feet away on the other side of the alley. He’d fallen too, but only to his hands and knees. It was out of exhaustion, rather than pain, Aoba had realized during their battle. So despite the soreness in his own body, Aoba hefted himself up off of the alley floor, and pulled his heavy legs to where Noiz sat.

Aoba heaved a breath from his lungs. “You just wanted it to hurt, didn’t you?” He asked. Noiz turned his head upward to face him, piercings glistening in the light that filtered past the rooftops. Aoba peered down at him through his artificial eye, noting the vibrant shades in the younger man’s outfit. “I didn’t notice until just a few minutes ago. In rhyme, whenever you’d get hit by an attack, you looked like you were in pain. But when I hurt your wrist... You didn’t even notice until you heard the bone crack. You can’t feel pain in the real world, can you?”

Noiz looked back down to the crumbled cement. “That’s right. Rhyme’s the only thing that makes me feel it. Like I’m aIive. I wanted to fight you because for years I heard that you were the best. You’re a legend in the Rhyme world, and I thought if anyone could make me feel like I’m living, it would be you.” He huffed. “I don’t understand why you held back in the end.”

Aoba’s expression softened. “I can’t explain to you what it feels like in the real world... But playing Rhyme just so you can hurt yourself isn’t going to solve any of your problems. It isn’t real, and even if it was, it wouldn’t be right for you to cause harm to yourself. I haven’t known you very long, Noiz, but I know you’re better than that.” He held out his hand to help the boy up. “Come on. You won, stand up and be proud that you crushed a legend.”

Noiz smirked at him, taking his hand and allowing Aoba to help him up. He stood up straight, scuff marks on his clothes from where he’d been on the ground. Aoba smiled back at him, letting go of his hand. “The best part is, nobody’s going to believe you when you tell them.” He teased.

“Really? I could show you how to mod that allmate of yours. He’s old, but he’s got potential. Now that Rhyme’s being shifted in a different direction due to Usui disappearing, you could take over again. Make a new username if you want. I’ll help you with anything.” Noiz offered. Aoba could tell that he was being completely earnest, but even so, he shook his head to deny him.

“I’m sorry, but I’m too busy with normal life after everything that’s happened in the last two years to try to focus on something like Rhyme. But... Really, thanks for the offer.” Aoba told him. Noiz’s eyes flashed with something, not like disappointment, but something like admiration. He took one step closer when Aoba peeked at his coil. He had three minutes before his break was over.

“Oh, shit!” He cursed. Aoba skittered backwards, scooping up his allmate. “I’ve got to get back to work! I’ll see you later!” He cried out to the other man. Noiz stood there, reeling in everything that had happened, and Aoba saw him mouth something like goodbye. There was no time to waste, however. He secured Ren’s body in his bag, taking off at full speed for Heibon. He’d never been so happy for his new leg’s length until now.

With labored breaths, Aoba kept running, but he managed to speak. “Ren! You did a great job...!” He puffed.

“Thank you. Now keep running, or Haga-san might actually fire you for being late!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> B) There we have it! Haha, I'm not so adept at writing Noiz. But I tried. I think Ren is much more easy, he's my favorite lil guy in this entire series after all. Thanks for reading, and the next update should come saturday! The next two chapters after this are the most intense and cool, I promise~!


	14. Roots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked this chapter when I wrote it but now I feel a little 'meh' about it. But, I think you guys will like it? So here you go!

Another week passed in relative calm. Aoba took a weekend to himself, resting his body and mind after the constant barrage of events that had sprung up in the last month. And then, for a week, things felt right. No ex-criminals came knocking at his door, nobody demanded to play rhyme with him, and the voice inside of his head was finally quiet. Koujaku came for dinner on a few different nights, seeming quite relaxed himself. His old friend and Clear were still hitting it off fairly well, Aoba noted, and Koujaku wasn’t at all object to the android’s cooking. As for Clear, some of the tense atmosphere dissipated between them. He was becoming fine with kissing, heavy or otherwise, so long as Aoba didn’t try to take it further. And he didn’t, close as he came to asking for it.

A saturday evening rolled around, and Aoba didn’t dare cross the threshold between the A/C and the sticky heat outside. He was learning quickly that the metal parts of his body cooled and heated at a faster and much more intense rate than the rest of his body, and going out in the hot sun made the joints between his bone and limbs feel like they were burning from the inside. So, Aoba stayed home the with a fan and a box of popsicles in the freezer calling his name from behind the door. He was bent over in said freezer, digging around inside when his grandmother’s voice came from behind him.

“Aoba, I’m going out for a meeting with some of the neighbors. You’ll be alright if I’m gone until midnight or so, won’t you? There’s plenty of food to eat, and some that can be cooked if Clear decides to show up today.” She informed her grandson. Aoba stood up and faced her, an ice pop held between his fingers. He nodded, closing the freezer door before all of the cold air was let out into the kitchen.

“Mm. Sure thing Granny. Call me if you hurt your hip again~.” He teased the old woman about the incident just before his abduction, all that time ago when he’d carried her home from delivery works. Tae rolled her eyes at the boy, and Aoba gave a playful grin from behind his treat she walked out the door. He popped the end of it into his mouth, appreciating the sweet cherry flavor of it. There were lots of things that he wanted to eat again after going without them for so long. Back then, Clear had served him the finest when he could stomach it, but simple things like popsicles and potato chips were the sole thing that Aoba craved these days.

Aoba draped himself over the couch like a lazy cat, a fan whirring not far away from him. Midorijima was always so hot during the summer, and he wondered if he wasn’t better off somewhere with a nicer climate. Maybe some place in Germany, or America. But he didn’t want to leave his grandmother all by herself- so Midorijima’s shitty humidity would have to do. He bit into the last of his popsicle as it threatened to fall off of the stick and onto the carpet. Licking the last sweet drops off of the wooden stick, and pulled himself up again to toss it in the trash.

Midway between his journey from the couch to the kitchen, a knocking came from the front door. “Ren, will you go look to see who that is? If it’s Clear, let him in.” He called out to the allmate, who had been nestled by one of the couch’s legs. He heard the faint clink of his collar as he took off for the front door, pattering across the carpet on little feet. Seconds later Aoba dropped the popsicle stick into the trash, and the sound of the front door opening came from behind him. It had to be Clear, or perhaps his grandmother who had forgotten something and turned back along her way.

“Aoba-san? Are you home? Ren-san answered the door.” Ah, so it was Clear after all. Aoba poked his head out of the kitchen door, peering out at the android that stood in the middle of his living room. The white-clad man turned towards him, and his face lit into a smile. “Oh, you’re home! What about Tae-san, is she out?” He asked, meeting Aoba in the kitchen.

“She’ll be out for a neighborhood meeting until midnight or so. She told me there’s enough in the fridge for the two of us if you want to cook.” He watched Clear migrate to the fridge and peek inside, bending over to pilfer through the shelves and drawers in thought. The android straightened himself up again, looking over his shoulder.

“How’s potato soup sound?” He asked, pulling out a small carton of cream from a shelf on the fridge. Aoba joined him in taking ingredients and placing them on the countertop as he pulled them out.

“Sounds good to me.” He replied while tying his hair back into a ponytail, continually noting the way that it fell almost down to his ass. Every time he turned his head around, he felt a delay as the wave of hair moved along with him. Clear pulled an apron from deep in his pocket, tossing it over himself and his heavy coat like he were some kind of cooking show host. He set out to chopping up vegetables, and Aoba helped in that as well.

The three of them stood in the kitchen for a while, Aoba and Clear working on the meal, with Ren being of help by reading off different recipes, tips, and cooking times. It was relaxing for Aoba to say the least, enough that he felt secure in taking his eyepatch off at one point. He laced it over one of the kitchen chairs where he wouldn’t forget it, peeking over to Clear for just a moment to be sure that it didn’t bother him. The android never offered any change in expression, pouring broth into a tall pot like it were nothing.  So Aoba kept the patch off and out of the heat where it grew stuffy.

Clear kept his piece of cloth latched on, as he didn’t have to worry so much about sensations in his metallic eye socket. He stood over the pot with a spoon, humming some tune that he’d probably picked up from the radio. He blinked as Aoba leaned himself over the counter next to him, watching his hand idly move around in circles inside of the pot.

“Ah, Aoba-san. I forgot to tell you, I finally found a job.” He noted. “It’s a place not far from where you work. They had a sign out on the front door that said ‘young men needed’. I went inside, and there was a nice lady and her allmate inside that welcomed me right in. She said that she’s given lots of people the job, but they never showed up for their first day. I don’t know why, it’s just running deliveries around the island.” The white haired man went on, giving the soup a taste. He added a few dashes of salt as he went along, and Aoba listened.

“That’s great. I was worried about how you were going to make it on your own without having any work... Where did you say it was again?” Aoba praised the other man. His eyes followed the rhythmic motions of Clear’s wrist as he worked, stirring around and around the pot. He held his head in one hand as if in a trance.

“It’s caled Delivery Works. The lady who works there is named Yoshie-san, and her allmate is a little dog named Clara-san. They’re both very nice.” He replied. Aoba felt his skin crawl, and he heard the sudden jingle of Ren’s collar. Clear took a step back, looking surprised as well. “Ah- is that bad? Are they really bad people?” He asked hurriedly.

Aoba relaxed again, and shook his head. “N-no, nothing like that... I know the two of them, they’re nice. Yeah.” He looked away, remembering the woman and her allmate. She’d always been overbearing to him, but Clear probably saw no difference between her and any other person. He turned back again. “I mean, I’m glad to hear that they’re both doing okay. I used to make deliveries there all the time from Heibon, we had a lot of orders that needed to be shipped out through the mail. She probably has no idea that I’m even alive, yet.”

“I see. Anyway, I like it so far.” Clear added on a positive note, giving the soup one more taste test. Aoba would have thought that the heat would bother him, but perhaps Clear had a tongue with a better resistance to heat. He even had a sense of taste, something that had to have been hard to replicate. For a second he marvelled at how much work had gone into Clear, and how much work had likely been put into his prosthetics as well. He saw the other man’s lips curl back into a smile, and he cut the heat off to the burner beneath the pot. “All done!” He chimed.

Aoba made way for Clear to move the pot off of the heat, spooning two bowls full of soup out with a ladle. The smell crept into Aoba’s nose, and he couldn’t help himself from licking his lips. The top of his tongue was still red from the popsicle he’d eaten earlier, and the sweetness had stained the back of his teeth as well. He and Clear sat down, and Aoba gave his allmate a scratch on the head.

“Thank you for the meal.” They both stated in unison. Aoba dipped a spoon into the hot liquid, bringing it to his lips. It was a little bit too hot to eat yet, so he blew on it before trying again. It passed his lips, and as per usual, Clear’s work turned out wonderful.

“It’s great.” He commented.

“Thank you, Aoba-san.” Clear told him gratefully, able to sip his food without the fear of being burned. The two of them ate, discussing their respective jobs that they’d gotten. Aoba didn’t mind what the conversation was over. Clear had a constant grin on his face, slight as it might be.

“Ah, aren’t you hungry anymore?”

Aoba jumped as he drifted off into his own thoughts again. He hadn’t caught himself staring at Clear while he spoke, his spoon abandoned in his cooling soup. He blinked, and tried to cover himself up quickly. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just listening to you talk. So uh, you can do deliveries pretty fast by running around on people’s rooftops, right?” He slurped loudly from his spoon. It was the heat that made his thoughts drift off like this, he told himself. He couldn’t handle it after being holed away in a cold cell for so long.

“Mhm! It’s actually much faster that way. There’s not as much traffic to worry about, and I can get around without worrying that anybody’s going to snatch what I’m delivering.” Clear told him. Aoba nodded quickly. He tried to keep focused on anything other than the thoughts that were brewing in the back of his head while he watched the android eat, his lips moving and talking and-

Shit.

Aoba sat up suddenly. “Sorry. I have to go to the bathroom.” He lied. The boy looked down to his partner on the floor, motioning for the allmate to follow. Ren stood up, trotting behind him as Aoba rushed off to the bathroom. Clear turned around, head cocked to one side.

“Oh- alright, Aoba-san. Are you okay?” He asked, pulling his legs out from beneath the table as if to follow him.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine, I just need to piss.”

“With Ren-san?”

Fuck. Aoba turned back around, a nervous smile on his face. “Well, I’m actually feeling a little dizzy because of the heat. He’ll be there to make sure I don’t fall in or anything.” He laughed, and Clear turned back around to finish eating. Meanwhile, Aoba darted into the nearest bathroom, his allmate right behind him.

“Aoba, everything seems to be alright with your physical state of being.” The canine type told him. “Am I wrong?”

“No. You’re not wrong.” Aoba leaned against the bathroom door, slinking down until his butt connected with the floor. He sighed, and put his face in his hands. “I don’t know how to say this... I just...” He groaned. Ren placed a paw on his thigh, a great deal of concern in his electronic irises.

“Aoba. Whatever it is, you can confide in me.” The allmate told him in earnest. “If you’re unwell, physically or otherwise, I’d like to be of help.”

Aoba uncovered his face. He stared down the allmate for all of fifteen seconds, before he sighed. “...I want to ask if I can put you in sleep mode for a little while. I want to have some alone time with Clear. You know, while Granny’s not here.” He admitted. Ren blinked at him wagging his tail one time.

“Sleep mode? You could just excuse me from your bedroom if-” He stopped. “Oh... Well then. If it’s like that, then I understand. Put me in sleep mode if you will.” The allmate and his owner didn’t make eye contact with one another, sitting on the bathroom floor together in an awkward heap. Aoba reached out for the puppy’s neck, finding the switch that would engage his partner into sleep mode.

“Thanks, Ren. You’re the best.”

“Likewise. Thank you for taking my comfort into consideration.” Ren closed his eyes slowly, allowing Aoba to shut his body down. He lifted the allmate into his arms, and sat him just outside the bathroom door, where his body would remain undisturbed. He then walked back out to the kitchen, listening to the sound of Clear washing their dishes.

He took a deep breath. Now he had the other man alone. Aoba wanted to speak to him truthfully, and not have to worry about anyone listening in on them. It had been a long time since they’d had a moment fully to themselves, and with a newfound surge of confidence, he marched into the kitchen.

“Clear.” He stated, hands balled at his side with nowhere else to go. He wondered how he must have looked, standing there with one empty eye and another full of determination. Turning off the faucet, the other man turned to him. His grin dropped when he saw the serious look painted on Aoba’s face.

“...Aoba-san, what is it? Are you still unwell?” He asked in a small voice.

Aoba shook his head, the long wave of a ponytail following along with him. “No, I’m fine. But I wanted to ask you something important, while the two of us are here by ourselves. And... I want you to answer me truthfully.”

Aoba could see Clear swallowing down his fake saliva. “Yes, Aoba-san? What is it?” He turned from the sink, facing Aoba completely. The blue haired man took a deep breath, letting knots turn over in his stomach.

“I want to know how you feel about me. I mean, how you honestly feel, and what kind of relationship you want to have with me.” He started. “All of this time I feel like been forcing myself over onto you, and I’ve been trying to build up something... I don’t know, romantic with you. And that’s what I want. I love you, and I want that kind of relationship. But I want to know what you want, first. If you’ve just been doing all of this... Coming to see me, acting concerned for me, kissing me... If you’ve done all that just because you feel obligated to, tell me now. Because I want to know if you feel anything for me, or if you’re just trying to cover up for what you did.”

As he spoke, Aoba’s heart steadily rose to beat in his ears. His fists grew wet and clammy inside, and he was pretty sure that the ends of his hair quivered. But he tried to keep up the lie that he was calm and composed, staring Clear down with the eye that he’d shared. It’s twin looked back to him, then down at the floor again. Aoba was patient in letting Clear answer, though the seconds dragged on like nails against a chalkboard.

The android’s mouth curled into a frustrated frown. “I do feel that way, Aoba-san. I meant it back then, I really did. And I still mean it. But how do I know if it’s real? When we were in there, I felt the same, but I always told myself that it was just an automatic reaction caused by my brain. It’s not real because I’m not real, and I can’t love you because it’s all fake. You can’t love me, I did awful things to you, and your head just isn’t finished haling yet. You’ll realize what an awful person I am, and then you won’t think that you love me anymore, you’ll be able to move on.” Clear had moved to tears as he stood there, the weight of it all crashing down on his shoulders. “So please... Aoba-san, don’t tell me that you love me.”

Aoba’s expression stiffened even further. “I love you.” He stated firmly.

“Aoba-san, please don’t.” Clear begged. “I can’t take it when you say that. Please.”

“Clear. I love you.” Aoba said again. Clear shook his head, ignoring him. Aoba continued to close in on him, finally pressing his chest right up to his. The taller man’s eye was snapped shut, and his face was turned away. Though his heart was beating in his throat, Aoba reached his hands up, and cupped his face gently between the disguised metal. “Look at me.” He whispered.

Clear listened to him, letting his eye open just a hair, and tilting his head just enough to make eye contact. “I love you, Clear. That isn’t a lie. I’m not sick. I love you.”

There was silence as the android straightened up again. He sniffled to suck in the fluid dripping out of his nose. His two eyes connected with each other, locked together in a mixed glance. Shakily, he raised his hands, placing them in the same position as Aoba’s. One on each cheek, holding his face there. Aoba flashed back suddenly, to the time before, when Clear had first showed him his face. They’d touched each other’s faces like this, and Aoba had experienced the same flutters in his gut for the first time. Now, he was here in the present, watching Clear blink away tears from his eye, the eye patch absorbing the others.

“I love you too, Aoba-san.” His voice trembled out of his lips, the honesty ripped out of him. Aoba was careful with him, rubbing his thumbs into the fake skin, leaning in to kiss him. Their lips touched just for a moment; fleeting and warm while in lasted.

Clear sobbed, throwing his arms around Aoba. The embrace was tight enough to keep him from wriggling, but Aoba didn’t protest, returning the hug with an equal amount of firmness in his grip. He felt the prodding of a nose dug into his shoulder, but Aoba paid no mind. He stroked Clear’s hair and his back, letting him ease the frustration. He stood there, waiting patiently, letting him take all the time that he needed to cry into his shoulder.

Finally, Clear pulled back, wiping his nose on his sleeve. “Ugh... I’m sorry for crying, Aoba-san.” He told him with a wavering voice. “I’ll believe you.” In that, he sounded more firm.

Aoba continued to run his hand along Clear’s back. “It’s alright. I hate to see you constantly holding yourself back around me, when I have the same feelings as you do.” He took a breath. “That’s why...” Aoba trailed off for another moment, biting his lip. “I want to touch you. So that I can show you how I feel. But if you’re still not comfortable with that, I won’t make you.” He spoke in earnest, trying to hide the flush in his face, but to no avail.

Clear had a moment of what appeared to be internal debate, but hesitantly, he nodded his head. “Alright, Aoba-san.” He agreed.

Aoba took the other man’s hand, man-made fingers wrapping in one another. “Let’s go upstairs then.” He gently led Clear along, pulling on his arm just slightly. Appearing nervous, the man in Aoba’s grasp took to following behind him. Aoba didn’t disconnect with him the whole way off to the bedroom, only untying his fingers to close the door behind him. It wasn’t until they were alone in his bedroom that the true gravity of the situation hit him, and his confidence level tumbled down considerably.

He tried to stiffen his nerve, knowing that Clear was far more nervous than he was. Doing this posed the risk, no, the definite reality of bringing back memories for both of them. There was no way to avoid it. So, he spoke up. “I uhm... I know we’re probably both thinking the same thing. But we’re never going to let go of the rape if we don’t talk about it. So, right now, I want to make new memories that won’t hurt.” He kept eye contact with Clear; nervous sweat falling down his cheek.

“...Thank you, Aoba-san.” Clear murmured. “And I’m sorry.”

Aoba pulled himself up close to Clear, taking him in his arms again. “It’s alright. I forgive you, Clear. It’s okay to rest for now, so don’t worry.” With that, Aoba connected their mouths together. First he repeated the gentle kiss like what they’d had in the kitchen moments before. But pulling away, he smashed their lips together in something passionate. Their tongues rolled together, and Aoba was getting the hang of knowing how to work the organ in a way that would make Clear sigh into him. He did just so, and found himself quickly placed down on the bed with his back facing the ceiling. Things were starting to pick up speed, and Aoba could feel himself hardening in his pants already.

He tossed his arms around Clear’s shoulders, bringing him down for another heated kiss. His hands rubbed circles into the android’s ass, revelling in the soft feeling. Then they slipped back upwards, towards Clear’s collar. He started popping buttons out of their place, exposing more and more of the man’s pale flesh. It was mottled from where pieces had fallen away, and Toue had replaced them with samples that didn’t match, but Aoba loved Clear all the more for the imperfection.

Once his shirt was unbuttoned, Aoba pushed away the cloth on Clear’s shoulder, exposing the off-white flesh hidden beneath it. He lifted his head to latch onto artificial flesh and a metal collarbone, sucking on the tender area there. Clear’s voice was high in his throat as he made an appreciative noise. Taking it as an incentive to make him feel better, Aoba continued to suck and bite at the flesh in front of him, moving up so far as the bottom of Clear’s jaw. Any normal person would have been coated in dark hickeys by this point- but to his knowledge, Clear wouldn’t bruise. And if he did, well, it was a good thing that he wore a scarf all year round.

Just as he pulled on the flesh of Clear’s jaw with his teeth, the man’s head moved in a different direction. Aoba felt lips on his collar where his shirt left the skin exposed, and he readily moved his head for ease of access. While Clear was busy sucking and leaving real marks on his neck, Aoba couldn’t suppress a lewd smile from the pleasure. He let out a trill as teeth sank into his skin. However, Clear must have taken this as a sign that he should bite down harder. Aoba’s ecstasy was replaced with a sharp pain in the side of his neck. He hissed, and Clear immediately pulled himself back from him.

“Ouch...” Aoba sat up. “Oh, looks like you bit down too hard. My neck’s not as sturdy as yours is, I guess. Just try to keep a handle on how much pressure you’re putting down, okay?” The pain dissipated quickly as he applied pressure to the site, pulling back blood on the end of his index finger. He licked the drop off with his tongue rather than dirtying the sheets with it. He turned to look at Clear, and stopped.

The man sitting on top of his thighs had turned the same color as his hair. His one eye was locked tight on the spot where he’d drawn blood, a circle of teeth marks on Aoba’s body that were pink and puffy. Aoba tried to level out his breathing, watching the ends of Clear’s bangs shake.

“Aoba-san... You’re bleeding.” The android’s voice ghosted so low that Aoba could barely make it out.

“Yeah. But I’m fine.” The man below him explained. Aoba put one hand on the android’s arm. “Clear, I think we should stop. You don’t look so good.”

Clear jerked back from the touch. “Aoba-san, I hurt you again, it was on accident... But I hurt you again, no matter what I do, I can’t stop myself from hurting you.”

Aoba didn’t move to touch him again. For now, he tried to offer comfort to the distressed person. “Clear, it’s alright. You didn’t hurt me.”

In a hurried flash of white, Clear was standing again, tripping over Aoba’s table. He fell straight back on his ass with a loud cry, nearly hitting his head on the floor. Aoba shot up from the bed, standing in front of him. “Clear, are you alright?!” He exclaimed. The man on the floor only pushed himself back further though, crashing into the wall with enough force to make things fly from a nearby shelf. Aoba stepped towards him, but he was met with a sharp cry.

“Don’t come near me!” Clear shrieked, defensively covering his face with his hands. “I can’t stop myself from hurting you Aoba-san, it doesn’t matter how I feel, I can never stop hurting you! Please leave me be, for your own sake, Aoba-san, get away from me and protect yourself.” He sobbed, in tears again. “Please Aoba-san, don’t... Come close to me ever again. I’ll just keep breaking you apart. I can’t take it anymore. I’m a monster, and I can’t help myself.”

Aoba stood there, motionless, adrenaline shooting through his heart. He didn’t know what to do. Let Clear go, and risk him going off and destroying himself, or move in closer? That would only make him lash out again, like a cornered animal. He didn’t have any other options, and nothing would help.

_“There’s something you can do.”_

Aoba’s brain lit up with agony, catching him so off guard that he had to cry out. This caused Clear further distress, as the android curled up into a tight ball. The blue haired man stood, shaking from the pain and the disbelief that this could be happening to him right now. He thought hard, trying to push down the one inside of him.  “I can’t deal with you right now.” He told the ‘other’ Aoba, attempting to choke him from the inside. But the voice tore deeper into him, shouting in his mind.

 _“Destroy him, do it! There won’t be another chance after this!”_ He screeched, making Aoba feel like his eardrums were about to burst.

“What about when you tried to ‘destroy’ Noiz last time? You wouldn’t listen to me, how do I know that I can trust you at all with him? You’ll break him.” Aoba hissed.

_“Trust yourself, Aoba. I won’t hurt him.”_

Aoba didn’t reply. He looked down at Clear, sobbing and shaking in a mess on his bedroom floor. He really didn’t have another choice. His power was the only thing that he could turn to now, and though he’d failed Mizuki, though he’d failed Clear once, there was nothing he could do other than bite the bullet and give it one last try.

Aoba knelt down, sitting in front of Clear. He felt a feeling of lightness all of a sudden, like his body didn’t belong wholly to him. The other one was in joint control with him now, and it was an other worldly sensation that he had to deal with. He reached out to Clear, gently grasping his wrists between his fingers. The android only sank into himself even tighter, making a noise of disapproval.

“Clear.” Aoba cooed, and he could feel the trill of his voice as the power mixed into it. “Look at me.” He commanded in a tone gentle enough to keep the shaken man from panicking further.

Unable to disobey, the android turned to face him, moving his hands away. His eye was scared, still bleeding tears. “Aoba-san... Why are you using that voice?” His words cracked with fright.

Aoba smiled, moving to hold Clear’s face in his hands. “It’s okay, Clear. I’m going to help you.”

Clear frantically shook his head. “No, Aoba-san, please don’t. Don’t use scrap on me again!” He cried.

“Clear. I’m going to go inside of you-”

“Aoba-san, _PLEASE!”_

_“-And I’m going to destroy you.”_

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAND THE PLOT THICKENS. Haha, finally all this stuff with Sly is making sense now, eh? Poor guy's tryna help, right? Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter, it was my favorite to write ;) Thanks for reading!


	15. Bleach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I'm naughty. I have received sooooo much feedback on the last chapter, I decided to update a day early. And, this chapter was the most fun to write, so there's that ahahaha. 
> 
> Also, quick warning: There are some strong medical themes in the second half of this chapter. If you're not comfortable with that, I advise skimming over or skipping those parts. Also, the whole of this chapter is fucked up. So just be warned, and enjoy~!

Aoba felt a surge of energy around him. The feeling was something like falling between the bubbles of boiling hot water, if there was any way that he could describe it. The very essence of himself travelled through space, worming its way into Clear’s consciousness. He let himself ride along for the split second that it took, lights flashing behind his eye and in his own mind. Fear and anxiety reigned deep inside of him, but he swallowed it down enough to keep himself sane.

At last, his feet connected with solid ground. The air around him snapped into something moist and cold, quiet except for the whir of some machine off in the distance. He didn’t recognize the place, and it was much different from the warm, light filled area that Clear’s mind had been before. It had been warm, glowing, and stretched on to what could have been forever.. The world around him now was cramped and dismal. Looking around, there were iron bars lining one wall behind him, and outside there was an endless white hallway. Aoba turned towards the cell doors, trying to open them. There was only a hollow rattle as he grabbed the bars and shook them, echoing off into the endless hall.

Clear was nowhere to be found.

Aoba looked down the hallway. “Clear? Where are you?” He called out, shaking the bars more fervently. “Let me out of here! Hey, Clear?!” He cried out, his heart beating fast. He’d been here before, he was only just remembering. He’d only caught a glance at the place before his eyes had been gouged from his skull, but Aoba was starting to recognize his cell by the feel of it alone. A sudden sense of panic enveloped him; and he shook and pulled at the bars holding him inside. He shouted in frustration, pushing at the iron with all of his might. Still, nothing.

He stopped for a moment, bent over to heave in his breath. He didn’t have time to stand here trying to escape- Clear was here somewhere, he just hadn’t found him yet. And what was there to find here? It was so small and desolate in this place. Aoba turned his body around to examine the cell further. The walls were barren, and chains fell from the single bed in the corner. His eye followed the silvery links all the way to the sheets, yellowed and filthy. Had they really looked like that? Or was it Clear’s imagination blowing it out of proportion? He didn’t have much time to think, as a different color caught his attention.

Aoba’s blood ran cold. Something massive sat on the bed, and he’d ever noticed in his panic. It looked like a  gargantuan clot of tangled blue hair that lay on the worn mattress. Out of the knotted mass, limbs protruded. They were white like porcelain, twitching at the ends every couple of seconds. And above all, Aoba could see it moving. The thing breathed, wheezing long, raspy breaths through some kind of lungs inside of it.

His body tense, Aoba moved closer to the creature. Each of his footsteps echoed off of the barren concrete walls, moving with the strained breaths of the monstrosity on the bed. He held out one hand, trembling as it was, reaching out to the mass of hair and flesh. “...Clear?” He murmured. Could this thing be what Clear had made himself out to be within his own heart? A breathless, shuddering monster?

Just as Aoba’s hand came close enough, the thing grunted. He tried a smile in response, his fingertips hovering over the trunk of azure hair. “Clear, is that you? It’s alright, you can look at me. I’m going to help you.” He whispered, out of breath in his own tight throat. The thing slowly gathered it’s rotten and crooked limbs, raising one side of it’s body from the mattress. It sat in a pool of what looked like sweat, the face of whatever it was hidden by mats of hair. It shuddered, taking a haunting breath of air into its lungs. Aoba placed his hand down on it.

Suddenly, he was met with a flash of yellow. The creature had no face to speak of, only a mass of hair knotted into a ball. But from it protruded two eyeballs, maddeningly red, with a pair of bright yellow irises at the core. Aoba only caught them for a second, but he recognized his own eyes in an instant. He cried out as the monster reared up onto it’s legs, falling over and scrabbling on the floor. It bellowed, a gurgled, inhuman sounds that pierced the inside of Aoba’s head like a knife. The sound of chains screeching as they were dragged against concrete came as the clotted mass of hair hurdled itself at Aoba. Its limbs reached out to grab him desperately, groping madly for his face.

Aoba threw his body out of the way of the thing, slamming himself against one of the walls. The monster in Clear’s brain continued to attack him, even as the chains held it back just inches from Aoba’s face, biting and snarling with those two yellow eyes. In a desperate attempt to call it off, Aoba raised his leg into the air, kicking the disgusting creature with all of his might. It howled as its eyes were crushed beneath Aoba’s foot, screeching as it scrambled to hide beneath the bed. Aoba didn’t follow after it.

Then, just as the thing’s screams of agony died down to whimpers, Aoba heard a crackling sound coming from much closer than the other corner over his cell. He lifted up both of his arms, rolling up one sleeve. The closer he brought his arm to his face, the louder the noise grew. He pressed his back up against the wall again. Instead of the fake flesh that he’d been given, he was met with the sight of metal. Wires and silicone tendons were exposed as Aoba’s flesh fell from his body like paper, uncovering the inhuman parts of his body. The particles flew like dust to join the nightmarish thing beneath the bed, and Aoba tried to ease his panic.

This place wasn’t real, he told himself. It was just Clear’s head, what his consciousness had turned him into. How he’d been back then, at least. All of Clear’s guilt and shame amassed into one solid being. Was that what Clear saw when he looked at him now? A poor, writhing thing that he’d created and chained?

There was no time for him to collect any more thought. Aoba felt something behind him shift, and he was sent hurdling backwards. A door of some kind had opened while he’d been standing there with his back pressed against the wall. Needless to say, he felt straight onto his ass, watching the door morph back into the wall again. It faded into the stark white surface, leaving no trace that there had ever been a connection between the two rooms in the first place. He picked himself up, and his hands and feet scraped against the linoleum on the floor. There was no flesh to be seen covering the areas that had been built onto his frame. His vision was normal, however, so the cosmetics of his arms and legs didn’t matter here.

Aoba quietly investigated his surroundings. A single lamp dangled from the ceiling, and the bulb inside of to glowed bright enough to hurt. As if that weren’t bad enough, the entire room looked as if it had been bleached white from top of bottom. All that stuck out of Aoba’s sterile surroundings was a single window. It was long, and it covered up much of the nearest wall. Without anything else to gravitate to, and no sign of Clear anywhere, he approached the wide pane of glass. He wondered if that thing would be waiting for him on the other side. Maybe he wouldn’t see the man here. He never did before, all this place had been was a delicate mix-together of light and song.

Aoba pressed his hand to the glass, peering out. Now, the outside world was empty and black, as opposed to the white outside of the cell. He looked back to the room behind him, examining the empty floors and walls that were bathed in the bright light. He squinted his eye for any sign that the room was any less empty than it appeared. He relaxed his eyelids. “...This almost looks like an operating room.” He thought aloud.

Aoba shouted as something else came flying at him. The hallways outside were illuminated with a furious red light, and sirens blared all around him. In his ears was the drumming of dozens of voices, the rattling of metal, all of it drawing closer by the second. By the window, a door appeared, and dozens of bodies marched in. Aoba held his arms up, but the unidentified forms took them and pulled them from his body.

“Good, we see you’ve already taken the first step in becoming sterile! Good work, Master!” One of the voices pierced through. It was familiar, and the name that it addressed him by made his stomach flip. Aoba had no time to identify the source of the voice, or to examine the faces of the other people. He was pushed and pulled along like a rag doll with dozens of hands covering his body. Each and every one of them was gloved in white, cloaked in white, blending in with the surroundings like they had the intent to camouflage themselves.

Aoba’s hands were dipped in hot water, each finger scrubbed down with a sponge squeaking over the metal. Then his hair was pulled back and tied up under some kind of cap on his head. His clothes were being removed from his body at a rapid rate. At that point he began to struggle, wriggling against the hands that pulled him along the room. Laughter cracked the air around him.

“Master must be nervous!”

“Don’t tease him like that. Master, calm down! Your patient could suffer if you were to come down with shaky hands while you’re operating!”

Aoba blinked. “Operating? Operating on who?” He shot, trying to get a glimpse of one of them, any of them, but he was being moved around too quickly to focus. Aoba had no idea of how to perform surgery on anything. Would succeeding with scrap mean conducting some kind of brain transplant?

“The broken one, remember? Don’t worry Master, we trust you, and we know you’ll take good care of him. A little snip here, a little slice there, and he’ll be good as new!” With that, Aoba felt a pair of white gloves being slipped onto his hands. Now he too blended in with the room, his clothes disappeared and then replaced with bleached over scrubs. At last he could look at the faces of the horde that had been pushing him around.

As he looked around, all of them stood in a neat fashion around an empty spot in the middle of the room. Everyone had an identical face, expression, and wardrobe covering their bodies, and Aoba realized that a group of Alpha had been the ones to assault him and redress him in clothes similar to their own. He scanned their faces closely, however, looking for the telltale spots that would discern Clear from the rest of them.

To his right one of the alpha cupped his hands in its own. “Master, are you ready for your patient? You mustn’t wait for long, or he’ll grow even more broken.” It cooed to him. Aoba gulped, and nodded his head at the android.

“Alright... Uhm, bring the patient in.” He played along with it, hoping that this was helping in some way. For now he tried to play along with the cues that he was being given by Clear’s consciousness. Through the door on the opposite side of the room, a gurney was rolled in by two more alpha, carrying yet another on top of it. A long operating table appeared out of the ground, rising slowly. From the flat walls drawers opened, and the machines prepared an array of surgical tools by placing them at Aoba’s side on a tiny metal table. Another two busied themselves with wiring cables into the head of the alpha on the operating table. Once everything was prepped, they stood back and assumed their orderly square around the operation table.

Aoba moved closer to examine the one that they’d laid out in front of him, but two arms in front of his chest stopped him from advancing. “Ah, not yet Master!” They chimed in unison. One of the pair pulled out a red marker from their breast pocket. The sound of the cap being popped off bounced off of the walls. He stepped over to the still body, tapping the dry end of the marker to his chin. “Hmm... He’s pretty broken. It’s a good thing you caught him when you did, Master. It could have been too late to save him at all.” He tossed the marker to another alpha.

“Mhm! But Master knows what he’s doing, so we’ll just point him in the right direction.” This one cried, passing the marker to yet another of his brothers.

“Yes! Now let’s see here, this one thinks that it’s a human, right? In order to help him, we’ll just have to take away whatever makes him think that he’s a man.” It pulled off the blanket that had been covering the ‘patient’s’ body, and gave a single stroke of the marker on his exposed thigh. Then, the marker went up in the air again. The alpha threw the object and scrambled for it like a pack of hyenas for a bone, snatching it out of one another’s hands and scratching marks onto the body. Aoba had a hard time discerning who had the marker and  when, the sound of their cackles blurring out his own thought as they worked to mark the patient.

Finally, they stopped, and one of the alpha leaned over. “And the most important part to amputate, right here.” He sang. With two flicks of his wrist, the alpha drew a glaring red ‘X’ over the heart of the body on the table. The writing utensil finally found its way back into the hands of the alpha that stood on Aoba’s left, and he promptly tucked it back into his pocket. The alpha placed his hands together, and turned to Aoba.

“Alright Master. Now, you may proceed with the broken one as you see fit.” He invited Aoba to step up to the operating table by extending his arm out. Aoba nodded slowly, heart filled with apprehension as he approached his ‘patient’. There was room cleared for him to stand, peering down at the alpha on the table. His eye darted to the man’s face, and he took in a sharp breath.

“Clear...!” He gasped. The man was unconscious, strapped down with iron onto the table. There were red lines drawn in ink around his eyes, across his limbs, and over his artificial heart. Aoba looked him up and down frantically, searching for some kind of release from the iron restraints tied around Clear’s arms and wrists.

“Clear? Who’s that?” One of the alphas questioned. Another pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket, reading from it carefully.

“That would appear to be the name that the one who broke him gave him. Master, this one’s true name is R-2E-054. He was brought in for immediate surgery once we found out that he’s been having delusion of being a human being.” It read from the paper. “But, as you and we both know, he is an object. And objects don’t need eyes to see with, or limbs to move with, and certainly no hearts to feel with.”

There were hums of agreement all around. The one with the paper continued on. “And as our Master, it’s your responsibility to fix him if you don’t want him to break beyond salvation. So please, Master, do your best.” He placed the sheet of paper back into his pocket from where it had appeared. Aoba looked from him back down to the unconscious Clear, breathing slowly on the table like he were asleep.

Again, Aoba looked up and down Clear’s body. He had no idea what to do here! Should he start lopping off limbs, or wait? His heartbeat grew heavy in his chest. Aoba slammed his hands down on the operating table. “All of you, out!” He shouted at the hordes of alpha crowding around him.

“Huh? But Master, why?”

Aoba knitted his brows together in frustration. I don’t need you in here, I need to help Clear. You’re not helping him at all- he’s not wrong for thinking and behaving like a human. So get out, all of you!” He demanded. There was a unanimous sound of disappointment amongst all of them, echoing off the walls. But, one by one, the alpha filed out of the room. Aoba was left alone, bent over the operating table where Clear lay.

“Clear. Clear, wake up. You have to wake up.” Aoba gently tapped the android’s face in an attempt to rouse him. That evolved into shaking his shoulders, calling out his name over and over. He took a deep breath, and thought back to the alpha’s words from earlier. Maybe calling Clear by the name that he had stated would do some good.

“R-2E-054, wake up.” Aoba commanded. Immediately, Clear’s eye shot open. He winced at the glaring light above him, confusedly looking around. His pink iris caught Aoba’s, and the android blinked at him sleepily.

“Aoba-san...” He murmured. Clear’s gaze felt like he were peering right through Aoba, into the window behind him. “What are you doing here? Why am I all tied up?”

Aoba gulped. “I’m going to fix you, Clear.” He replied. Aoba lifted a scalpel from the table, the sterile piece of metal flashing in the light. He still didn’t know what to do. Last time all he’d been prompted for was a decision, and he’d picked the wrong choice. What about now? What was he supposed to do here?

The man pinned to the operating table writhed in his restraints. “What are you doing with that? Aoba-san, let me go!” His voice grew increasingly more frantic. “I don’t need any of your help, leave me alone! Go away Aoba-san!” He tossed his head back and forth, clanging loudly against the operating table. Aoba could see his muscles straining to get out of his holds, but there was no escaping them at this point. Aoba held the scalpel with a quivering hand, examining the marks all over Clear’s body.

He took a step back. Like the first time he’d been here, Aoba was presented with two panels, each floating above Clear’s body. They appeared to be floating in the overhead light. Clear continued to struggle underneath him, his breathing frantic. The operating table rattle beneath him, and Aoba was left to look between the two options.

_It’s fine to rest._

_It’s better to stop now._

Aoba paused. Which one had he chosen before? His free hand hovered over the two choices. What if he picked the wrong one again? He would destroy Clear to the point that he couldn’t even function anymore, most likely. He thought deeply, trying to drown out the sound of Clear’s frantic movements.

Resting would mean that Clear could relax, just for a little bit. He could lay back and keep feeling peaceful. He’d be stalling.

Stopping altogether would mean that Aoba couldn’t help him at all. He’d toss down his scalpel and never have a chance at destroying the thing that was causing Clear so much grief.

“Neither of these sound right..!” he hissed to himself. The options had started to fizzle, and he feared that he was running out of time. Clear sounded like he was dying on the table, shaking so violently that Aoba thought that he might have begun to short circuit. Damnit, damnit, damn it all! It wasn’t fine to rest, stopping now wasn’t the answer. Clear had to keep going no matter what.

_Crack._

The pair of options disappeared, and Aoba panicked. He’d run out of time in trying to choose.

He’d failed.

His heart sank deep into the pits of his stomach; and he almost dropped the scalpel. He turned to Clear, unable to stop the heavy tears welling up in his eyes.

“Clear.. I’m so sorry, I failed again...” He breathed, hardly able to carry his own voice. On the operating table, Clear had calmed down. He sat flat on the surface, breathing through his mouth. His eyes were closed, but he opened them back up again, turning directly to Aoba.

“Aoba-san... Don’t apologize. I need your help.” He admitted, voice rattling out of him. Aoba blinked, and watched him relax against the table. “My chest hurts, Aoba-san. Please, help me.”

The man holding the scalpel nodded his head affirmatively. He took that as an indication to take the blade to Clear’s chest. The android hissed, straining against the iron holds. Aoba shushed him, cutting an X into the skin along the lines. Underneath the thin layer was a cavity, and Aoba took care not to pierce whatever was inside. He peeled the gloves off of his fingers, revealing the metal beneath them. Clear’s eye was trained to his hand as it moved back to his chest, peeling back the flaps of skin.

Aoba jumped when he got his first glance of what lay beneath the flesh. Connected to metal arteries was a human heart, red and beating inside of Clear’s chest. It was an illusion of scrap, of course, but he was astonished to see the thing laying inside of the android’s chest. He  pulled the skin back further, and he stalled again. Something thick and black as wrapped around the organ, crushing it so tight that it had a hard time beating. It wriggled around Clear’s heart like some kind of leech, latched onto it completely.

Aoba used his free hand to push Clear’s hair out of his face from where he’d been thrashing. In doing so, he exposed the metal eye socket. Here in scrap, Clear’s eyepatch had been left off. “Is this where you’re hurting?” He asked, pointing to the drumming organ.

“Mhm... Can you fix it, Aoba-san?” The android murmured.

“Yeah. I’ll destroy the thing that’s hurting you.” Aoba pulled his hand up, and he felt a surge go through his arm that disconnected some of the feeling from him. He wasn’t alone in taking the knife to Clear’s aching heart, the one inside of him was guiding his hand along as well. All he could do was work with him, praying that his destructive persona wouldn’t go so far as to  pierce Clear’s heart.

He felt the end of the scalpel dig into the leech-like thing, and with a simple flick of the wrist, he was left watching it bleeding out and shriveling into nothing. Aoba pulled the scalpel away fast as Clear cried out in pain, fearful that he’d made a mistake. But the android calmed a second later, relaxing completely against the operating table. Aoba then laid the scalpel back down where he’d found it. Closing the hole that he’d cut was simple enough. He folded the flaps of skin back over to where they’d been originally, and Clear’s body healed the cuts by morphing them back together.

He heard a sigh of relief come from the android’s lips, and the room around them started to dissolve. At first Aoba panicked, but he saw the walls around him dissolve into a soft, yellow light. The operating table faded away, and Clear drifted into a standing position alongside him. He had tears in his eyes, and they fell to the ground slowly as they came, like gravity didn’t work right here. Clear approached him, wrapping his arms around Aoba’s frame. The smaller man did the same, digging his nose into the other man’s bare shoulder. He could see the skin on his arms growing back, from his forearm to his fingertips.

Around them, a gentle song from long ago started to hang in the air.

Clear sniffled. “Thank you, Aoba-san. I’m so sorry.”

Aoba pulled back, looking at his eye’s twin. “It’s okay, Clear. I forgive you.”

  
  


Aoba snapped back into the real world in an instant. He was back in his bedroom, slumped over Clear’s legs where his body had grown unconscious. It was close to dark now, and Aoba found it a lot harder to see in his bedroom. All that mattered now was Clear, though. The android was still slumped over, chin against his chest and eyes closed. He grabbed the man’s arm, giving it a worried shake.

“Clear?” He questioned, trying to rouse him into consciousness. He sighed as he saw one eye open, pink iris focusing on him. “... Are you alright?”

The man under him groaned, moving to hold himself up by his hands. “Mhm... I’m fine.” Sleepily Clear draped his arms around Aoba’s shoulders, like he’d just finished running a marathon. He smiled, letting his forehead fall onto to other’s chest.  

Aoba returned the grin, adding a quiet chuckle. “I’m so glad.” He pulled himself and Clear up off of the ground, helping the robot onto his feet. One hand on the man’s shoulder, he led him over to the bed where he could lay down. From his footsteps, he could tell that Clear was dizzied by everything that had gone on inside of his head. He plopped the android down onto the mattress, joining him as he realized the fatigue in his own bones. He rolled over onto his back, Clear wedged right up beside him so that they could both fit on the bed.

“Aoba-san, I’m tired.” Clear murmured beside him.

“Yeah. Me too.” Aoba replied. He blinked as the weight of the other man rolled over onto his chest, and white hairs tickled his neck. Aoba placed a hand on the man’s head, allowing him to use his body as a pillow in the tight space. He heard a sniffle, and stroked the man’s white locks with his palm. “It’s alright, Clear. What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong.” The android told him. “I just feel like crying for some reason. Do people normally cry when they feel relieved?” He questioned.

“Mhm. A lot of times they do.” He nuzzled his nose into white hair. “People cry for all kinds of reasons. So if you need to, let it out. Holding it back won’t do you any good.” He felt warm fluid falling onto his chest, as if he’d given permission for the tears to fall out. “Go to sleep. That’ll help too.”

“Mhm...” Clear agreed, his tone groggy. “Goodnight, Aoba-san.”

“Goodnight, Clear.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, there it is!! Aoba, give yourself a pat on the back, you done it. I really hope this chapter was up to your expectations, and I'd love to know your reactions to it! By the way, the fic is completely finished as far as writing goes. Now I'll just be updating every few days until we hit that point. I think you guys are gonna like the ending as much as I do. Anyway, thank you for reading, and feel free to comment and add kudos!


	16. Crystal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm technically updating on saturday, right? One A.M. counts. This chapter's all over the place I guess, so please enjoy it.

Aoba sat up. He wiped his eyes, pulling the coil still on his wrist up to his face. The time read 7:00 A.M. He didn’t have to be in to work for another two hours, but at the same time he didn’t trust himself to go back to sleep without passing out until noon. Memories from the night before flowed into his head in slow trickle, and he groped the other side of his bed to check for another body. He found purchase in Clear’s shoulder, turning to look at the man sleeping beside him. Unfortunately the touch caused him to stir, grunting as he woke up. He watched Clear’s eye and socket flutter open, his eyepatch tossed to the other side of his head after being left on in his sleep. He blinked at Aoba, drawing back memories.

“...What time is it?” Was all he asked, opening up his hands and looking about the room. “I have to be at work at eight. Yoshie-san will be mad at me if I overslept.”

“Don’t worry, it’s only seven. You’ve got a little bit of time to wake up.” Aoba informed the drowsy android. Clear relaxed, blinking several times in silence. He turned his head back to face Aoba’s, coming to a slow realization.

“Was all of that a dream?” He asked. Aoba wiped hair out of the other man’s face, and shrugged his shoulders.

“Which part?”

“You used Scrap on me, didn’t you?” Clear questioned him. Aoba nodded his head, and the artificial man sat up beside him. “It feels... Different than last time. Back then I felt kind of hopeless afterwards, like all of my courage was gone.” He stopped to blink, eye focused out the window. “I feel better. I’ve always had this big knot in my stomach whenever I see you, since we came back. I don’t feel it there anymore.” Clear groped at his belly while he spoke. “Do you think that means that it worked this time?”

Aoba  nodded his head. “I do. You probably would have been broken this time if it hadn’t worked.”

“Mm...” Clear hummed. He stared off into space, letting his mind start up after a long period of sleep. He pushed his hair back out of his own face, and smiled. “Thank you, Aoba-san. I feel so much better.” Then, he stood, and began to collect his things. Aoba swung his legs over the sides of his mattress, slightly stiff from having to share the tiny bed space. He stood up alongside the android, tapping him on the shoulder. He noted the difference in the way that Clear looked at him. The slight wince that he was accustomed to had morphed into the curious blink of the other man’s eye.

Aoba raised his hands up and gently pulled the strings of Clear’s eyepatch between his fingers. He slipped the patch of cloth down and over his empty socket so that it sat secure in place. “There.” The azure haired youth chimed. “You’ll scare Yoshie-san if you go into work looking like that.”

Clear flushed, and quickly wrapped his scarf around his neck. “Thank you, Aoba-san! I didn’t even notice that it had slipped around like that. I should be more careful.” He started to seal together buttons of his shirt that had been popped open the evening prior, covering up his torso in the process. “I hate to leave so soon, but I don’t want to be late. It’s a pretty long walk, even over the rooftops.”

“It’s alright. I’ve got to get ready to head to the shop anyway.” Aoba nabbed his hairbrush off of the cluttered dresser, dragging it through the long tresses attached to his head. He watched Clear bumble about his bedroom with a strange feeling of satisfaction. In his ‘destruction’ of the things that had taken Clear’s heart captive, he’d invoked a change that moved all the way down to the android’s body language.

Then Clear stood upright, straightening out his back. He moved so quickly that Aoba jumped, watching him turn his way. Clear had his eyebrows knotted together, a determined gleam in his single eye.

“Aoba-san!” He exclaimed.

Aoba held a bunched up shirt in his hands, dumbly nodding his head. “Yeah?”

“Please come to my house this evening after you’re finished at the shop.” He insisted, standing in the middle of Aoba’s room with some kind of energy radiating off of his body.

“Yeah, sure.” Aoba responded. The sudden change in Clear’s behavior was dizzying, and he wondered if he hadn’t been switched with another android in the middle f the night. The man gave an enthusiastic nod of the head.

“Wonderful! Aoba-san, thank you for having me last night, I was too exhausted to excuse myself.” He gave a little bow. “I’ll be on my way, if you don’t mind. But, one more thing before I go, if it isn’t too much to ask.” His confidence wavered on that last line, and he held his hands together at his waist.

Aoba blinked. “What is it?”

Clear hid his nose behind his scarf. “Could... I uhm, I want...” His words bubbled out for a moment, but he managed to release his nose from behind the yellow cloth. “Would you kiss me?” He blurted. Aoba gawked at him, standing there like he’d just shouted gibberish. He relaxed his shoulders, and gave a single nod of his head.

The android more or less bounced up to him, pecking Aoba’s lips for a kiss that was short as it was sweet. Aoba felt the man’s hair brushing up against his forehead, then pulling away as they parted. Clear’s expression was something unlike he’d seen on his face before. Or, perhaps he had in some far off memory. Confidence was heavy on his features, a bright determination that felt far more natural than his usual anxious frown.

“Thank you, Aoba-san. Now, I’ve got to get going, or I’ll be late!” Clear turned away from him, hopping out to the veranda and closing the door behind him. Aoba watched as his white coat trailed off to the nearest rooftop, vanishing out of sight. He stood in his underwear in the middle of his bedroom, jaw slightly agape.

“Holy shit.”

 

“So, if everything really did go well, he should be a lot better now.” Aoba finished. Work had flown by that day, and now he was unravelling the tale of the night prior to his allmate. Ren was tucked snug inside of his shoulder bag, patiently hovering at Aoba’s side. He didn’t offer much conversation, taking more time to listen to Aoba speak than he did to talk in return. Aoba didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone but Ren about his experience. His allmate swore in to secrecy, and never gave him a discouraging word.

“It would seem so.” Ren told him. “But... I would have been lost if something had happened to you while I was asleep, Aoba. Please try to be careful.” The allmate nodded his head. “I’m glad that everything turned out well for you both. You said that you were going to his home? I can tell that you’ve deviated from your normal path.” His collar jingled as the tiny allmate moved his head.

“Yeah. He invited me over for some reason.” Aoba replied. He held his hands in his pockets, moving along the streets towards the dump without looking back. “I never knew that someone could have something that awful inside of them. Makes me wonder what other people are hiding inside. People like Koujaku, or Noiz, and I bet that Mink guy has something pretty dark inside of himself too. I wonder if you’ve got something inside of you that can be scrapped, too? I bet you’re full of dark memories and secrets. Secretly you’ve been using that internet connection to load yourself with dirty videos all these years, haven’t you Ren?” Aoba teased.

“Sounds like you at sixteen.” The puppy shot back. “Anyway, I don’t advise that you use the power any more than is necessary. Clear was a special case, given that there was residual damage from Toue’s influence on his mind. But you could risk hurting someone if you were to use it in such an intimate fashion again.” He advised.

Aoba had stopped listening somewhere down the line of the conversation. He’d stopped altogether, letting his partner rattle on. Ren’s ears perked up once he’d realized that the two of them had come to a halt. The blue haired man had his nose tilted upwards at a sign, peering at it with a distant expression.

Somewhere along point A and point B, Aoba had wandered in front of a sex shop. They were a common enough occurrence in the old resident’s district, certainly, but he’d never stopped to look in one of the windows before. Up until this point, he’d brushed their existence off, and kept walking despite the latex and leather in the displays. This one had caught his eye, however, and he stood like stone outside the front door.

“Aoba.” Ren interjected. “...Are you going to go inside, or not?”

The allmate’s owner jumped. He looked down at his partner, back to the sign, then to the front door. He was telling himself that it wasn’t right to go into such a dirty place, but there was a tingle in the back of his head inviting him to step right in.  He took a deep breath, told himself to man up, and stomped his foot down on the first step towards the door. It jingled as he pulled the handle, just as if he were walking into heibon. Some weird, BDSM version of heibon converted for filming a porno.

Except, it wasn’t. There were shelves lined with magazines and videos, toys and bottles and other things that one would expect. No strange electronic music playing, or audio of women moaning in the background, a little shop with sex related items and costumes. He took a gulp, stepping around inside. Ren kept quiet, though he peeked around at the different styles of sex toys lined along the nearest wall. Aoba turned his eye toward a tall rack, covered in bottles. He made his way towards that point, beelining his way across the carpet.

His gaze locked on the item he’d been hunting for in coming into the store. Items, rather, as there was a selection to choose from. How so many kinds and flavors of lubricant were available for purchase, he would never know. But here he stood without a clue of where to start. All he knew was that it felt better when Clear had used the substance... Before now. He didn’t want to remember that time, but he could recall the pain of being taken dry versus having something slick. How they’d done it was all a matter of Clear’s whim, back then. Now he had control of the situation, or something close to it if he could figure out what he was doing.

“Aoba.” Ren piped in once again, sending Aoba out of his own skin.

“Huh?” He squawked in reply, sweat soaking in his eyepatch.

“I don’t mean to come across as lewd, but if you look to the right there’s several bottles with a silicone based formula, which is recommended for the type of intercourse I believe you’re interested in.” One paw popped out of the bag, pointing to a range of bottles a shelf below where Aoba hadn’t been looking. Aoba only scratched him on the head, picking up the first bottle in the direction of where he’d been pointing.

Aoba sheepishly made his way to the head of the shop, where there was an unmanned counter full of sexual accessories. Condoms, miniature vibrators, some other items that Aoba had heard of but never seen. Given Clear’s inability to be diseased and their mutual lack of pregnancy risk, he skipped on the condoms. He poked at a tiny vibrator, however, wondering if men could use them as well.

“Is that it?”

For the third time, Aoba came close to leaping out of his clothing and into the ceiling. The shop owner had shuffled out of the back and to the register out front while he’d been busy ogling sex toys. Aoba dropped the bullet back into its container with the others, saving the thought of it for a rainy day. He shoved the bottle across the counter with a little more force than he would have like. Robotic arms be damned.

However, the woman behind the counter didn’t pay much mind, scanning the bottle and punching numbers into the register. It wasn’t until she opened her mouth and yawned that Aoba realized how nervous he’d been. This was a normal day for her. People had sex all the time, and they came to places like this to find things that would make the act easier, as he had, or to twist things around and to make it more fun. He was a twenty five year old man with wants and desires just like anyone else. This was normal.

The sound of plastic slid into his ears as she placed his purchase in a thin white bag. His fingers no longer quivering at the tip, he was able to pull out his wallet and pay for it like it was nothing more than a bottle of soda. He hadn’t even been in the shop more than three minutes when he was stepping outside again, his shoes hitting the cement of the sidewalk outside just as they left carpet. He was still wrapped in disbelief, but he had a distinct feeling that the final decision to enter the store hadn’t been his alone. Fine, if this was the way that he was being pushed, it was the least that he could do to indulge ‘himself’ after helping him the night before. Whether or not he would be using his purchase would be his decision alone, though.

Aoba slipped the bottle into his pocket, and the bag into another, waiting for the nearest trash bin to toss the latter away. His wrist bumped into Ren’s head, and he peered at the allmate through the corner of one eye.

Ren stared back up at him, expression never faltered from his usual stare. Aoba sighed through his nose, and scratched behind the blue fluffball’s ear. “Sorry.” He apologized for no good reason other than to clear the awkward feeling in his gut. He started towards the dump again, his lips curling back into a wry smirk. “Hey, Ren.”

“Yes?” The allmate responded.

“Thanks for looking out for my ass.”

Aoba had never heard Ren snort before. Aoba laughed with him, clearing up the debris of his own nerves.The dump wasn’t far off from the outskirts of town that Aoba had just been leaving when he came across the shop. The plastic bag crinkled incessantly in the bottom of his left pocket until he came across a trash can, disposing of the thing where it wouldn’t bother him with noise. He may as well have waited to toss it out in the mounds of trash in the dump itself, though he felt that it would be rude to add more junk to Clear’s home.

He stepped lightly along the way, noting that this was the first time he’d be returning since his initial departure several weeks ago. Aoba found his way easily enough though. A nice scent hovered in the air, and Aoba’s nose was drawn around the final corner to the ramshackle little house. He stepped up to it, knocking on the thin wooden door. Again, the way that the metal in his hand clunked against the wooden surface caught him off guard.  Maybe he’d never get used to that. It was just as well either way.

At first he wondered if Clear hadn’t come home from deliveries yet, but the sound of an opening window above him changed that theory. Dust billowed out of the open pane, and Clear’s head popped out, looking down at him past a white dust mask. “Be right there!” He called, shutting the window again. Aoba’s eye lingered on the dispersing dust, fading into the early summer air. Through thin walls he could hear the sound of Clear rushing down the stairs, heavy boots hitting wood as the android moved. He was at the door in a second.

“Aoba-san! And Ren-san! Sorry, I was cleaning the upstairs bedroom.” He removed the small mask as he spoke, fashioned out of a piece of cloth. He promptly moved out of the way to allow the pair inside of his home, closing the door behind them. Aoba could smell dust on his clothing, but also the scent of garlic floating out of the kitchen.

“Cooking?” He asked. Aoba had expected him to make something, so he’d skipped going home for a bite. The two of them moved into the living room, where Aoba was able to set Ren down and release him from the shoulder bag. The robotic pup hopped out and onto the floor in a moment’s notice.

“Mhm! I was paid for the first time today, and this morning, I decided that I wanted to take you on a date, Aoba-san!” The android chimed. Aoba made a surprised noise in the back of his throat.

“A date?” He questioned, watching Clear poof into the kitchen.

“Yes, a date.” He heard drift out of the kitchen. “Back then, before I even told you about how I felt, I wondered how I was going to ask you on a date. I never got around to actually taking you on one. So, I hope that this is enough.” By this time, Aoba had moved into the doorway of the next room, watching Clear busy himself in front of the oven. There was a chicken tied up in a roasting pan inside, covered in herbs and surrounded by vegetables. Clear closed the oven, straightening himself back up.

Aoba smiled. A day ago this would have seemed impossible. “A date... It’s as good as any. I’ve never been on one before.” Well, not considering the sloppy make-out sessions he’d had with people in back alleys as a teenager. But he held his tongue.

“Right. I hope this is a good first date, Aoba-san.” The white clad android responded. He started reaching up into cabinets, pulling out worn dishes and cutlery from within them. “It’s almost ready, so have a seat wherever you’d like while I finish up. You and Ren-san make yourselves at home.

Aoba blinked, having forgotten that Ren was even standing beside him. The allmate nodded his head, padding off to some nook of carpeting where he could lay down. Aoba followed, trailing after the little pup and making way for the couch. It was worn out to the point where he could feel wood through the cushions when he sat down. But it wasn’t enough of a pain to keep him from sitting, idly poking through his coil. He didn’t even read the news articles that popped up. His stomach was flipping under his skin, and he couldn’t help but feel nervous. Why did he feel nervous? He’d wanted this all along, hadn’t he?

Yes he had, Aoba thought as the sound of Clear’s soft humming floated out of the next room.  He blinked, his ears perking up to the tune. He pulled himself off of the couch, wandering back to the kitchen door. The android’s soft humming had turned into gentle singing, word falling out of his lips like bubbles as he went on. He slipped on an oven mitt, bending over the oven to pull the hot pan from the oven. Aoba watched him, head swivelling with his eye, ears at full attention.

“Is that...?” He mumbled. Clear paused in his melody, laying the roasting dish on the stove gingerly.

“It’s lemon and rosemary.” The android responded.

Aoba shook his head. “No, not the food. That song that you were just singing.”

Clear cocked his head to the right. “It’s just the jellyfish song, I sing it all... The time...” He trailed off, and jumped up in the air. “I remember it! I’ve been remembering all kinds of things today Aoba-san, but this is the best!” He exclaimed, proceeding to hum out the melody as loud as his throat would allow.

Aoba grinned back at him. Clear without his song was the same as a bird who’d been muted. “Remembering? What did you forget?” He asked.

“All kinds of things that were foggy up until now. I asked you to come here because I wanted to tell you about the memories that have been coming back.” He stirred the bottom of the roasting dish, pushing around vegetables. “It’s about the time that someone came and messed with my head, when I started feeling things normally again. All this time I thought that someone had come and rewired me, but that wasn’t the case.”

Aoba listened as Clear poked at the meat, checking to be sure that it was cooked until done. “They didn’t...? What happened?”

Clear hummed in concentration. “It’s... Not easy to explain. He was a ‘master’ too. He had a power similar to you, and to the one that Toue had made in his throat. But it was different from that entirely.”

“So, he had scrap?” Aoba questioned, then turning his face toward the floor. “He must have been some kind of experiment, like I was. He probably wasn’t as lucky as I was, back when Granny saved me as a baby.”

“Yes. Or something similar to Scrap.” Clear took a knife to the chicken, cutting it and snapping the bone. Aoba didn’t jump at the sound. “The strange thing about him was, his power wasn’t in his voice. Instead, he had it inside of his eyes.” The android gave Aoba a plate of hot food, pulling out cutlery from a drawer. Aoba stood and blinked at him. His grandmother had never told him about variations of scrap not located in the voice.

He and Clear sat down at the meager kitchen table, Ren listening in from Aoba’s feet. They both mumbled a quick ‘thank you for the food’, and got to speaking once again. Clear continued on from before, taking his fork to the plate.

“It’s still coming back to me, but he was a strange person. He dressed like a celebrity in platinum jail, but at the same time he looked like he was on death’s door. At first I thought that he was a ghost. He found out that you were being held in that cell somehow, and he managed to escape where he was being held to come find you. I found him there trying to use scrap on you, but...” He paused for a moment. The words ‘But you had no eyes’ came to mind, but Aoba didn’t speak to fill them in. “But you know. I was angry, because I thought that he’d come to hurt you, or to pull the plug on your body.”

Clear paused again, grief heavy in his eye. “By that point, you were close to dying yourself. I don’t know if you remember, but you were comatose for several weeks. I had your body hooked up to the best equipment Toue had on hand just to keep you breathing. And I thought... ‘This is good. Now Aoba-san is like me, made halfway of wires and tubes.” He stopped for a long moment then, unable to hide his remorse on his face. He picked up his head, however, looking at Aoba again. “So, when he couldn’t use his power on you, he used it on me instead. It wasn’t the same as when you moved inside of my head, but he was still able to fix the damage that Toue had done to it. He made me feel guilt, and lots of awful things for what I’d done to you. But afterwards, he told me how to help you, and that as soon as I had you better again, I had to contact him.” By this point the two of them had paused in eating entirely. “I did just that. It wasn’t more than five minutes before his face started to pop up on monitors everywhere. I had you and Ren-san inside of a janitor’s cart where nobody could see you. I escaped and came here with you both. And then, three days later, you woke back up.”

Aoba nodded, taking it all in. From the weight in Clear’s voice, he could tell that it wasn’t something that was easy for him to talk about. And it wasn’t easy for the human to hear, either. Thinking back to then made his stomach feel like a hole had been punctured inside; acid leaking into his gut. “...What about Toue?” He questioned.

The android’s eyes narrowed. “He’s dead. I know he is. After I was modified, I was able to hear his voice and sense his presence, like I can with you. The last I felt it was when the tower collapsed. So, I don’t have any doubt that he’s gone.”Clear picked up his fork. “Ah, I didn’t ask, is the food good?”

“It’s delicious.” Aoba replied with his mouth half full. Clear nodded his head with enthusiasm, making and ‘om’ sound as he continued eating. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooOOOOOOH SNAP Not sure if it was cliche of me to include Sei as the one who 'fixed' Clear or not. Can't leave the princess out of the story now can I? Thanks for reading, I'll update on Wednesday as usual if all goes according to plan! It's so close to the end, boohoo, I'm having so much fun watching the reactions you guys give me and reading your comments. I also appreciate the fanarts 1000000000x over! So, don't be afraid to comment and kudo, and thanks again for reading!


	17. Opal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a little anxious so this chapter is well... Less plot than I'd like, but it's somethin

The evening rolled on, and after they’d finished with dinner, Clear sang for him over washing the dishes. Aoba was relaxed by the song, watching the man’s hands move in the soap and water, fluid as the way his voice came from his lips. Then, as part of a ‘traditional date’, the other man had insisted that they watch a movie together. There was a small television in front of the old couch, and Aoba had doubted that it even worked, but with the flick of a button it managed to activate. Clear didn’t have much of a movie selection, and the television was too old to hook up to his coil and stream something from the web. There was an aged documentary on jellyfish however, and it was more interesting than the children’s cartoons and science documentaries that came with it.

So, Aoba found himself listening to the voice of a narrator following the movements of jellyfish in the ocean. Brainless, lucky to be considered alive, the jellyfish continued on through the sea without mind of the world around them. Quite like Clear, Aoba thought. By all odds, his otherwise inorganic body had life. And warmth, too, he noted as he strategically scooted closer to the other man.

“They’re so pretty...” Clear mumbled in awe of the faded-color jellies. “I’ve never even seen one before, but they’re really amazing things. Don’t you think so, Aoba-san?”

Aoba nodded in agreement. “Mhm. I’ve seen them at the aquarium before.”

“You’re pretty too, Aoba-san!” Clear blurted from beside him. Aoba’s eye widened in surprise at his loud attempt at flirting with him. His shock was apparent, as Clear moved to cover his tracks. “I mean, you’re amazing. Handsome. Cool. Uh...” He stumbled over his own words.

Aoba laughed. “Thanks.” Was all he offered in reply.

Clear’s flustered expression turned to one of embarrassment. “I’m sorry... I don’t know what I’m doing.” He confessed, scratching the back of his own head. His eyes turned back to Aoba, then downward. He reached out gingerly, parting blue hair away from Aoba’s shoulder. The owner of said hair turned his head to one side. “You’ve got marks on your neck...” He muttered.

Blinking, Aoba noted the hickeys dotting his neck and shoulder. One of them had scabbed over from where teeth had punctured the skin. He reached out, petting Clear’s hair with one palm. “Don’t worry. It’s pretty normal to leave bruises when you kiss there, they don’t hurt.”

“Really?” Clear questioned. He touched his own neck with a gloved hand. “I don’t bruise at all, so I wouldn’t know how it feels. I couldn’t take when I thought that I’d hurt you again. I saw blood, and I just couldn’t take it. I got so scared that I couldn’t think straight anymore.”

Aoba leaned over onto the android’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. It’s all over now.”

Clear made a noise. “About the other thing, last night.” He mumbled. “I shouldn’t have even said yes. Yesterday, when I told you that I love you, I meant it with all of my heart. But I wasn’t ready to go so far with my body, and it put me on edge as well. I only agreed because I thought that I would feel better if I could do something that would make you happy. I didn’t really want it myself.”

Aoba felt his stomach churn. “Hey... Don’t think that way. If I forced you into doing something that you didn’t want to, then I’d be no better of a person than you were when your head was messed up. Don’t let me do things to you and lie about wanting them.” He told the android firmly.

Clear nodded. “I know that, now. I won’t do it again. But... If it isn’t too selfish, I think that I want that kind of thing. I love you, and I want to touch you. Not as if you’re a machine, and I’m just performing maintenance on your body. And not because I think that it’ll be some kind of atonement for what I did to you. There’s absolutely nothing I can do to make up any further for the things that I did, Aoba-san.” He took a deep breath. “So, I want to touch you, in the same way that humans touch one another.”

His hand had migrated to the side of Aoba’s face as he spoke, voice shaky and slightly unsure until the very end. But the human reassured him by nuzzling his face into the gloved palm, his eyepatch nudged against Clear’s fingers. “Alright. But, if you start feeling unsure again, tell me.”

“I will. I promise. And the same goes for you, Aoba-san.” Clear stammered out. He was nervous, Aoba could tell. He tried to ease the tension by leaning into him; pressing their lips together in a kiss. Clear was tense at first, but by the time they broke off for a second and came back for a second, he’d melted into something much more loose and relaxed. Aoba had his back laying on the couch cushions, straddling him and pushing their tongues together. He swallowed up a heated breath that Clear made into him, returning it.

He sat up after a moment, sitting over the hardening bump in Clear’s too-loose trousers. “Bedroom. A bedroom, doesn’t matter which one.” He breathed. The android wormed his way out from beneath him, shimmying his hips until he could stand up.

“Well, I haven’t dusted out the other one yet. Upstairs.” Clear pointed to the stairs. Aoba followed him, arm on his back and running fingers down his steel spinal cord. Trailing led to gripping, and the pair lost their clothing with every step they took, gravity blessing them from falling as they yanked off their socks at the top of the staircase. The doorway of the bedroom invited them to pause, caught up in one another’s arms and lips again.

“Mmh, Aoba-san.” Clear hefted his breath against his face, pulling back for a moment. “I don’t mean to put any stress on you all of a sudden, but there’s one more thing I want to ask.” Lungs working to keep his oxygen flow going, Aoba only nodded his head in reply. “I wanted to ask if you would be the one on top of me this time. I think if I do it, I may start feeling bad from memories again.”

“Sure, I can do that.” Aoba nudged him in the way of the bed. His hormones were far too out of control than they should have been for a man. The prospect of having sex that hadn’t been forced, but rather an act that was hot and intimate, had every nerve in his body screaming. Clear followed along with his direction, though Aoba stopped him just as he sat down. Clear looked at him curiously, sitting nude on the old mattress. Aoba lowered himself down, knees hitting the floor. Clear jumped, looking down at him with a maddeningly red face.

Aoba grabbed both of his knees, pushing at them. “Open your legs.” He urged. Clear hesitantly complied, nervous as Aoba in this situation. He reached out, grasping the android’s swelling cock in his palm. He’d felt it hard like this many, many times in the past of course, but this was his first time actually seeing the thing. It was red to the tip and continually swelling with more artificial blood, stiffening in Aoba’s hand. And god, was it fucking huge. Toue was a dirty bastard, Aoba thought in the back of his head.

Looking up at Clear for just a second, Aoba took the tip in his mouth. He pushed his tongue out of his lips and rubbed it against the pink head, relishing in the fact that he could move as quickly or as slowly as he wanted without the rod being forced down his throat. That’s not to say that Clear didn’t buck into his mouth, his voice heavy and strained above him. Aoba rubbed his thumb into the man’s thigh. He could feel himself growing continually harder just from using his mouth.

“Aoba-san, you don’t ah, have to...” Clear choked out. He had both hands fisted into the sheets and his hips tilted towards Aoba’s mouth, breathing heavy from the stimulation. The blue lump of hair between his legs pulled back, replacing his mouth with his fingers to speak.

“I want to.” He assured the android. “Because if there’s anything I learned back then, is you’ve got more stamina than any human I can think of.” Aoba licked in a circle around the tip, pulling slowly with his hands at the bottom. He jerked a long moan out of Clear, who peered down at him with his half lidded eye.

“Aoba-san, I’m sorry...” He apologized between his labored breaths. He lifted one hand, petting the man’s head gingerly as he could. Aoba leaned into it, releasing Clear’s shaft from between his lips once again.

“It’ okay, Clear.”  He whispered back. Aoba took in his swollen prick again, working at it more fervently. He bobbed his head up and down, the head touching the back of his throat every time he moved down onto it. Clear’s hips gave a little jerk every couple of seconds, and his breath had gone from ragged groans to pants that he couldn’t control. Aoba heard him trying to choke out his name from above his head, so he braced himself.

The android came with a shout, spilling his essence over Aoba’s tongue. It was tasteless, so the young human didn’t take much mind to having it spilled inside of his mouth. Clear softened somewhat, but Aoba could tell that he was stiffening again quickly while he guided the other man down onto the mattress. He allowed Clear to shift so that he was on his back, laying underneath him on the aged sheets.

Aoba dipped his head down, placing kisses and nips where Clear’s neck and shoulder connected. He felt the other body squirming under him, and he pulled up from where his lips were connected. Clear put his hands on his chest, trailing down to rub his thumbs into his hips.

“Aoba-san, I want to ask something selfish...” He muttered. The android’s eye was focused in some corner of the room, and he had his nose pointed downwards in shame. Aoba stroked his hair with one hand, still kneeling overtop of his stomach.

“Hm?” Th azure haired human hummed. “It can’t be too selfish, what is it?”

Clear knitted his brows together, lips simultaneously curling down into an embarrassed line. Aoba could tell that he was gathering up the strength to make the words come out, but he feared he might faint from a rush of blood to the head before that could even happen. But, after a long moment, the android opened his mouth. “Would you... I don’t know how else to say it, but I’d like it if you uhm,  if you...” He paused again to gulp, and Aoba let him take his time. “I want you to sit on my face, Aoba-san.” Clear finally blurted.

“Eh?” The human above him spat out. Of all things, he hadn’t expected that to be what Clear wanted.

“I won’t say it again, and it’s only if you want to.” Clear told him; still averting eye contact. Aoba looked down at him, thinking it over for a moment. On one hand, Clear honestly wanted to indulge him after sucking him off. On the other, he’d feel like he was in some kind of porno flick. But, nobody was watching.

“Alright.” He agreed. Clear’s hands on his hips nudged him forward, and within a few seconds, Aoba had scooted to where his knees touched the cold metal frame, and the supported his weight on the wall in front of him. Now he felt embarrassed, but it didn’t last for long. There was a long, wet stroke of heat between the mounds of his ass, and Aoba gasped. Clear kept going, his whole head bobbing as he made long, broad strokes of his tongue all the way from Aoba’s entrance to his balls.

Aoba breathed heavily, squirming. “It feels weird...!” He whimpered, feeling the heat leave him.

“Should I not?” Clear mumbled from underneath him. Aoba shook his head, hair long enough to brush the android’s chin.

“No, keep doing it. Don’t stop.” He told him. Clear shifted down again, going back to eating the area between his legs. Now, Aoba was heating up and adjusting to the sensation of it. His voice crawled out of his throat, escaping in lengthy groans. He didn’t take notice when his hips started to move on their own, rolling against the other man’s tongue. He did take note when one hand left his ass, moving to his front to stroke his length. “Hah- Clear!” Aoba gasped.

Clear tilted his head back, still jerking his cock with a gentle grip. His breaths came out with effort, but he could gather enough to speak. “Aoba-san, does it feel good? When I touch your body like this? I want to do it only because it’ll make you feel pleasure... Not for any other reason.” There was a sadness in his voice then, one that made the other man’s heart drop.

Aoba mewled as Clear gave him a long tug. “It feels good.” He looked down, hardly able to see the single pink eye. “...You sure you’re okay?” He whispered, concerned that the android’s head might be flooding with thoughts too heavy to allow him to keep moving.

“I’m alright. Just let me make you orgasm, that’ll make me glad.” Clear replied. He went back to his work, and Aoba cried out from the feeling. Now he was actively rocking against the android’s mouth, seeking more heat and friction. All the while a hand was pumping his shaft up and down, sticky drops of precum helping to add to the sensation. Aoba’s voice rose higher and higher, and down beneath him, Clear had abandoned all notion of being quiet. He slurped and breathed against Aoba’s ass, making the other man shudder.

Aoba held onto the bed frame, listening to it rattle as he moved. “Clear, don’t stop, I’m so close...!” He managed to drag the words out in a whine between his pants. His hips bucked, moving against the android’s hand and his tongue. He felt like his hips had melted into something hot and sweet, and with one final shout, it all came shooting out of the head of his cock and onto the bedroom wall. He rocked through his climax, Clear never stopping until he’d milked the other man dry.

Finally able to open his eye again, Aoba looked down. He noticed the cum dribbling off of his shaft, and moved away. “Ah... Clear, it’s in your hair, I’m sorry.” He apologized in the midst of his labored breaths.

“It’s okay, we can take a shower later.” Clear told him, still laying back on the mattress. He was already back at full mast, where Aoba would need a few minutes at least to get back up again. With that thought in mind, the blue haired man groped for pockets that weren’t there.

“Shit.” He mumbled, remembering that his jacket was somewhere on the stairs.

“What is it?” Clear asked while he caught up with his own breathing.

Aoba hopped off of the bed, trying to avoid knocking his prick against the metal frame. “Forgot something in my pocket. Be right back.”

Clear sat up, the bed wheezing under him as Aoba scurried out of the room. He dove for his jacket, half way down the stairs, picking out the bottle that he’d bought earlier. He thanked himself for his own thinking. Then, he realized that they really couldn’t have gotten much of anywhere the night before without something like this anyway. He darted back up the stairs, returning to the bed with Clear.

The android peeked at the bottle, craning his neck to get a look. “Ah... I’m sorry Aoba-san, I didn’t even think about that.” He apologized. Aoba reached out to pet his head, easing him back down onto his side.

“That’s alright, I did.” He took his place at Clear’s side once again, holding him in a position closer to spooning this time. He opened up the bottle, pouring translucent fluid into his palm. It was cool, but it would warm up once it had enough contact with skin. He used his dry hand to nudge Clear’s legs open again. He prodded at the android’s entrance, pressing a slicked finger inside. The man’s shoulder quivered.

“It’s cold...” He mumbled. Aoba pecked his cheek, moving his finger around deeper inside of him.

“It’ll warm up in a second.” He assured him. Aoba continued to rub his walls with the one finger, waiting for his voice to mellow out into gentle breaths of pleasure. He added a second, nipping his shoulder as he squirmed. Aoba slid the pair of digits in and out of his body, scissoring them apart occasionally. Clear had done that to him before,  as much as he hated to think of it, but the preparation had made things... Easier, if anything. He breathed into the back of Clear’s neck. “Clear. Do you have a prostate?” He asked in a whisper.

The artificial man blinked at him, taking a moment to think. “I’m fairly certain, yes. Or something like it.” He panted. Clear lay his head down on the pillow, whining as Aoba finally hit the spot. Aoba pressed into it again to make sure, hitting the spot again. Clear gasped this time; his cock twitching against the sheets. Now his breathing was becoming ragged once again, and he struggled to speak. “Aoba-san, does it feel normal? Or is it rubbery and strange inside?” He inquired breathlessly.

Aoba smiled. “It’s normal. Don’t worry about it, I wouldn’t mind even if it didn’t feel the same.”

Clear opened his eye, grinning back at him. “That’s good...” He cut himself off by gasping. “Aoba-san, stop teasing right there...!”

Aoba laughed at him audibly. Underneath all of the grief and self hatred that had been built onto him and washed away, Clear was actually an adorable person. He let him squirm and moan under his touch, intentionally stroking his sweet spot until he could see his cock dripping at the tip. By this point, his cock was starting to swell again. Every few moments he nudged it up against Clear’s tailbone, rolling into him. He wanted the android to know how much he wanted him, every last bit, no matter what form it came in.

Clear turned his faced and stuffed it against the pillow again, giving a frustrated groan. “Aoba-san, please...!” He implored through the fabric of the cushion. Aoba obliged him, removing his fingers from inside the warm space of his body. He shifted, moving so that he could sit up on his knees between Clear’s legs. He paused, and drank in the sight in front of him. Clear had his nose buried into the pillow, fisting the sheets, shimmering precum dripping from the end of his cock. His hips gyrated against the sheets, rubbing his member against them for any kind of sweet friction that he could gain. Gorgeous was the first word that popped into Aoba’s head, but he didn’t let it past his lips.

Clear peeked from where his eye had been hidden behind the pillow, and Aoba bent over him. With ginger fingers, he removed his eyepatch from his face, leaving the hole open and bare. Then he straightened back up, unwrapping his own from around his skull. Cool air rushed into the socket, but he grinned despite the chilly feeling. Clear returned the expression, only for a second. His eye was turned towards Aoba’s hands, slicking the shaft of his cock with another dosage of fluid, for good measure.

Aoba guided his cock inside of him, shuddering as heat enveloped him. It was a test of his will not to lose himself inside of the android at that moment, but he kept on despite himself. Below him, Clear had tossed his head back, crying out as he was filled on the inside. Aoba sheathed himself, bumping their hips together.

“You okay?” He had to force the words out of his mouth, holding himself back from moving. This feeling wasn’t like anything he’d experienced before. It was warm, wet, entirely different from the way that Clear’s mouth had been in the times that he’d seen fit to use it before.

“Mhm.” Clear responded. He rocked his hips against Aoba’s as a silent plea for him to move. Aoba was more than happy to oblige, pulling himself back and then pressing back inside. He moved slowly for the first few thrusts, steadily picking up speed as Clear’s voice encouraed him and spurred him on. Aoba moaned and sighed as well, he heat around his prick enough to make stars flash under his eyes.

He picked one of Clear’s legs up and held it over his shoulder, allowing for deeper access into him. The android was heaving and panting under him, his back arched and his fists close to ripping the sheets. The bed creaked as Aoba thrust, an annoyance that was inescapable at the moment. He kept his eyes focused on Clear’s face, watching it twist and shift with ecstasy. His wrenched shut eye creaked open.

“Aoba-san...” He choked out. “A-are you scared? Does this feel good, or am I still frightening you like this...?” There were tears prickling at his vision Aoba noticed. He lay the android’s leg back down, curling overtop of him without sliding out of his body.

“I’m not scared, Clear. You’re not the same as you were. Now, I’m happy to be like this with you.” He held his head just above the other’s, gazing at his one eye and the metal socket to the left of it.

Clear laughed, the one tear that had welled up falling off of his cheek. “Good. I’m so relieved...” He wrapped his arms around Aoba’s shoulders so that he couldn’t move to straighten himself upright again, holding him snug against his chest. Aoba resumed moving his hips back and forth, rocking the artificial body into the old bed. He was losing control over his own voice, rapidly approaching his own climax. Clear’s grip on his torso tightened even more, and by the sound of his voice, he was close as well.

Clear tried to sputter out his name, but it was drowned out by a heavy cry as he fell over his peak, hot fluid shooting onto Aoba’s belly. The human only used a few seconds afterwards before his vision flashed to white. Aoba allowed for his head to drop down, drowning his voice in the other’s neck as he released deep inside the confines of his body.

He fell onto the other man, who readily took his weight as they lay there trying to take in enough air to fuel their lungs. Aoba snaked his arms around the android, holding him close off the sheets. “Was that alright?” Was all that he could think to say. Clear gave a little nod.

“Mhm.” He mumbled sleepily. He nuzzled Aoba’s face with his own, enjoying the quiet moment. Sunlight filtered into the room, and in the rays Aoba could still see bits of dust floating in the air. The days were growing ever longer as the spring air started turning into summer, but Aoba enjoyed the light. Clear hummed his old song in his ear as his breathing finally started to level out again.

The android let his humming trail off into silence. He looked at Aoba, running one hand through his hair. “Aoba-san, will you stay here with me for a long time?” He whispered.

“Well, I can stay the night, but I have to go home soon.” Aoba chuckled.

Clear shook his head. “No. I mean, will you stay... With me, for a long time. I wasn’t lying when I told you back then that you’re precious to me. You’ll die a long time before I do, Aoba-san, healthy or not. Will you live for a long time, and stay here with me?”

Aoba blinked. He’d never stopped to think that Clear wouldn’t age, that he’d stay like this forever, young and fit as the day that he’d been pieced together. The thought made him a little sad, but if it was meant to be that way, then he wouldn’t fight it.

“Yeah. I’ll stay for as long as I can.” He promised. Clear gripped him tighter.

“I’ll be sad. One day I won’t... I won’t be able to fix you again, like this time. I’m scared that I’ll be all alone.” He confessed in a quiet mumble, hardly audible through the wind outside. Aoba sighed through his nose, but grinned nonetheless.

“Don’t worry about it too much. Hopefully that’s a long way away from now.” He rubbed slow circles into the android’s back. “And even if something were to happen tomorrow, the fact that I’m gone won’t change that there are billions of people in the world for you to meet and to talk to.  and it won’t change the fact that I love you, either. So don’t think that you’ll ever be alone in this world, Clear.”

The android blinked slowly, then let out a long sigh of relief. “Alright, Aoba-san. Someone else told me that I should fill my life up with good things, and you’re a wonderful thing. Er, person.” He caught himself. Aoba laughed at him, and felt himself being held tighter to Clear’s chest. There was something rubbing against his thigh, and the android’s smile had suddenly turned coy. “And you promised that you’ll keep loving me for a long time, will you love me little bit more right now?” He teased.

Aoba clucked his tongue. “I should’ve known you wouldn’t be done yet.” He smiled, and pressed  their lips together. “But I can, for just a little while longer.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! There's actually an omake to go with this chapter, which can be found here: http://2spookydratini.tumblr.com/post/98860114898/whispers-this-is-an-omake-to-the-newest-chapter . Haha, I hope you guys liked it, as always, fanart and kudos and comments are always great to see, thank you again!


	18. Quartz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damnit. I'm updating early again, but for good reason, I swear. I turn the ripe old age of 19 tomorrow, and I'm going to be busy, so have the update early. Here u go

“Aoba!”

 

“Aoba-san!”

 

The young man grunted, batting his hand at the noises that barraged his just-waking mind. He wanted to go back to bed, it was a Saturday and he needed _sleep_. But, despite his wishes, there was an insistent tapping on his chest and stomach that roused his mind beyond hope of falling asleep again. Pulling sleep-tangled hair along with him, Aoba turned his head to look at his assailant. Three eyes peered at him; and he blinked back.

“What do you two want?” He turned right back over, covering his face from the morning sun. It pervaded his room through the glass of his sliding doors, shining in straight into his eye.The only peace from the sun’s beams came from a body stepping in their way. Clear bent over his groggy form, but not after having activated Aoba’s allmate. And, from the bouncing up and down he’d felt earlier, the pair were in cahoots in the mission to get him out of bed. Damn Ren, working with the enemy.

“You have to wake up, Aoba-san!” Clear insisted. “I’m going to take you somewhere special, today. It’s already ten o’ clock, wake up!” He persisted. Finally, Aoba cared enough to lift his head to look at the clock by his bed. The android was right, it was seven minutes after ten actually. He had to drag his own body off of the mattress, skin peeling away from sheets.

Only a few days had passed since the night that he’d spent over at Clear’s home. And, in retrospect, staying up fucking until three in the morning wasn’t a good idea when you needed to get up for work in a few hours. What Aoba wouldn’t have given to have called off and spent the day sleeping and waking up slowly, but he’d been tossed out of bed by an android that thought the world may end if he were late to Heibon. This all coming from someone who didn’t need sleep. But then again, he never complained watching the android hop around ass-naked looking for clothes. Now the weekend had finally rolled around, and Clear was insisting that he give up his much needed rest.

“Where is it?” Aoba asked, his morning voice rattling out of his throat. He felt Ren’s weight shuffle in his lap, and he instinctively dug his fingers into his partner’s fur, forgiving him for being an accomplice in waking him up.

“It’s a surprise. You’ve just got to come with me, Aoba-san.” Clear stood up straight, firm in his request to follow him off to god-knows-where. And, despite it all, Aoba was willing to follow him there. He used the hand that wasn’t buried in Ren’s fur to run it through his hair, tangled and in dire need of brushing.

“Do we have to be there in such a hurry?” He asked, grabbing around for his eye patch. It was tucked underneath his pillow. Clear answered him as he set about wrapping it snug around his eye socket.

“No, not a big hurry.” The android side-stepped out of the while while Aoba pulled his dense metal feet over the side of the bed. He stretched out his arms, Ren hopping off of his lap and onto the floor.

Aoba stood, draped in nothing but a loose pair of boxer shorts. He pulled himself around to find something halfway decent to cover himself up with, having no idea on what kind of chase Clear wanted to pull him off to. Whatever it was though, the other man seemed excited enough about it to rock back and forth on his heels. Ren pattered over, pulling a pair of blue jeans to his owner with his mouth. Aoba took them with a pat to the canine’s head, slipping them over his legs. A t-shirt would have to do well enough too. Aoba would have loved to wear a tank top and a pair of shorts, but he hadn’t gathered the courage to show the scars and discoloration of his body. At least was learning to cope with summer heat and the burning sensation that his metal body parts left.

He peeked over at Clear, whose one eye followed him about. He huffed. “Looking at something?” He asked. The man hovering a few feet away shook his head, though he had an excited grin plastered on his lips. Wherever they were going, it had to be something special. And, despite his grumpy morning attitude, Aoba found himself quite content with seeing the other man beaming as he was. If taking him to some place at ten in the morning would make him so happy, Aoba wouldn’t complain beyond having to be woken up for it.

He pulled a brush through his hair, eventually giving in and tying it up behind his head. “Alright.” He said, finally rid of the sleepy drag in his voice. “You lead the way I guess.” He shuffled over to his bedroom door, waiting for Clear to lead him out. He was met with a wink, or what he supposed was the closest thing to a wink that a man with one eye could give, just as Clear walked out of the door. Ren followed behind the two of them, trotting along at Aoba’s side along the way.

“Ren, are you sure you want to come along?” He asked, staring down at the furball.

“I asked Ren-san to come with us. He’s very important to you, so I thought it might be selfish if I didn’t let him come with us.” Clear stated, bouncing off the last step. Aoba didn’t think to stop and tell his grandmother that he was heading out. He was already through the front door and out onto the hot street before the thought ever crossed his mind.

“That’s true. I supposed that I should tag along if I’ve been invited.” Ren agreed. Aoba only grew more curious as he was left to wonder why Clear would explicitly ask his allmate to come with them. Maybe he was just trying to reach out- as another machine, Ren could mean a lot to Clear. Surely they had enough to talk about amongst themselves. But he didn’t comment, following along with every step Clear made.

They moved along through mazes of tall buildings, slipping through narrow alleys and wading amongst busy streets. Aoba repeatedly tried to guess where they were going. But they walked past the aquarium, blazed on by a couple of museums, and the closest Aoba came to thinking that they had finally reached their destination was when Clear’s head turned and watched a small park for a long moment. There were kids there, swinging and dangling off of a jungle jim without a care. But Clear pulled his eyes away from them, moving forward. Eventually, Aoba started to carry his allmate to spare him the walk.

Eventually, he had to speak up. They’d been going for close to an hour, and now they had completely left the city. All that surrounded them were long fields of grass and old metal junk that led to the mountains enclosing the island. “Clear, are we there yet?” He finally asked. The white-covered man turned back to him, finally stopping. He pointed to a grassy hill, light shining off of blades as the wind combed them over.

“Sorry Aoba-san. I had a hard time remembering how to find this place, but I remember now. It’s just up that hill there.” He let his hand drop back down to his side. Using his other hand, Clear had to keep a hold on his scarf. Aoba had to question just how in the hell Clear kept his winter getup during June. His eye rolled up the side of the hill. It was quite a climb, and after walking for so long, he was reluctant to say the least. But he noted that most of his pain was in his thighs- the robotic legs built onto him would take him up the hillside if he could only will them into doing it.

He took off first, leaving the android to catch up this time. The three of them climbed the hill, Ren bouncing along in the safety of Aoba’s arms. The trek upward was longer than he could have imagined. It looked smaller than it felt, and peering out Aoba could see just overtop of a dip in the mountains. The ocean lay out there, shimmering blue for as far as his vision would take him. Watching it grow more and more exposed made the walk a little less tiring, but he was still huffing by the time they hit the top. The hill was relatively flat at its peak, stretching out quite a ways. The grass here was chewed down, and there wasn’t a piece of junk in sight. However, a stone stood out among the waves of green. It was tall and thin, a simple rectangle sticking out of the ground. It looked like it had been white at some point, but years of wear had brought it down to a yellowed color.

Clear marched toward the stone, where Aoba stayed put. “Clear.” He called. Once again, the android turned to face him. The sun had nowhere to be hidden here, and it reflected off the large body of white to the point where Clear looked like he could start glowing.

“Yes, Aoba-san?” He asked innocently, waiting to move on.

“Is that...?” Aoba pointed to the stone, it’s shape apparent even from where he stood. The solitary headstone stuck out of the ground, here where no soul would ever come to disturb it.

Clear nodded his head once, but his subtle grin never faltered. He turned again, and Aoba set Ren down to walk the short distance. His allmate’s fur rubbed against the grass as the two of them followed after Clear. Standing for a moment, gazing out to the sea, he plopped onto the ground besides the headstone without a shred of grace. Aoba followed suit, though he lowered himself to the ground slowly, stretching out his tired legs. Ren sat beside him, head peeked over to look at Clear.

The android spent a long time staring out at the ocean, and Aoba didn’t bother him. He and Ren turned their heads out towards the expanse of water, staring at the plane of blue as it shimmered. Aoba could just pick out little speckles as they flew around a sliver of yellow sand, gulls probably. He took a strange pleasure in knowing that he and Clear were sharing the same experience, looking through the same eyes out at something beautiful. Suddenly he was forgetting the ache in his hips, abandoning it sound for the wind flowing inside of one ear and out the other.

“Aoba-san.” Clear’s voice joined in with the sound of the breeze. Aoba had to tear his eyes away from the endless sea just to look at him, blinking his one eye. The android blew air through his nose. “I guess you know what this place is by now, huh?”

Aoba nodded. “...That headstone. It’s your grandfather’s, isn’t it?” He guessed. Clear nodded slowly.

“Yes. I wanted his final resting place to be some place that looked out over the ocean. This hill was the only place that I could find where it wouldn’t be bothersome to anyone else. He’s the one that told me all about the ocean, after all. I thought he made like to at least be able to see it.” Aoba felt his gut tighten, but Clear’s peaceful expression didn’t fade. “I haven’t actually been here since then, I was too preoccupied when I woke up again to come out here. I’m glad that I have the opportunity now.”

Aoba pressed his lips together, intent on the other man’s words. Clear continued after a brief silence. “When he died, I thought that death was a bad thing. I thought it was something cold and scary, and that dying was just the bitter end of a long and painful process. I couldn’t wrap my head around why people have to die. But, I think after a while I realized that it’s not such a bad thing, Aoba-san. I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and I’ve listened to what people have told me, and I’ve realized that death can be a very warm, and tender thing. Rather than being the terrible end of it all, I think it’s more like a release. I haven’t experienced dying, but I’ve experienced living, and that in itself is wonderful. Getting to sit here and look at the ocean with you is worth the thought that I won’t be here anymore someday.”

Clear stood up then. He held out his hand, and Aoba took it, feeling some of the weight of lifting himself up pulled along by the man’s hand. “There are bad things in life, too. Bad things and bad people, and sometimes there’s nothing that you can do to make it better.” Clear kept a firm hold on his hands. “Aoba-san, I came here with you because I want you both to know that I’ve done bad things myself.” Aoba noted the way he said ‘both’, and for some reason, he had a feeling that he wasn’t only addressing Ren. “Not just bad, terrible, unspeakable things that aren’t inexcusable even of someone that isn’t a human.”

Aoba’s expression fell. He touched Clear’s shoulder with the hand that was free. “Clear, don’t-”

“But if you’ve decided that you forgive me, Aoba-san, then I believe you.” He was cut off as Clear made the firm statement. “And even after you helped with Scrap, not everything that I feel is gone. I’m still guilty, and I’m still disgusted with my actions. But I promise that I’m going to start trying to forgive myself too. I wanted to go back to sleep, I thought that I never should have woken up again and I should have rusted away in that garbage dump with the rest of the trash. But I don’t ever want to do that, Aoba-san. Not now. And I know that I disobeyed Grandpa when he asked me to go to sleep and never wake up... But you’re worth staying awake for.”

Clear’s eyebrows had knitted themselves together, harsh determination in his one eye. Aoba looked back into it with his, pierced out of words. The sharp expression softened, and a lid came down over the pink iris. “I know I won’t live forever, Aoba-san. Nobody will. But you told me that there’s nothing that I can do to make up for the things that I’ve done. All that’s left for us to do now is try to make new memories to think about instead.” He gulped. “So please, I beg of you, stay here with me until the very last moment, Aoba-san.” His hands were shaking, and he had looked down at his feet in a loss of confidence.

Aoba had flushed. And, in taking a second to peek down at Ren, he realized that Clear hadn’t turned down to look at his own feet at all. There was a silent nod from the allmate, and the two men made eye contact once again. The wind fell over the hill, whispering over their bodies and the grave beside them. Aoba grinned, squeezing their inhuman fingers together.

“I will.” He muttered, voice almost carried along with the breeze. Some fluttering feeling in his gut made this half feel like a marriage proposal, and he cursed himself for being such a sap. But the way Clear’s face lit up in that moment made the flutters grow so intense that he thought his chest was going to burst out in an explosion of feathers. Clear finally let go of his hand, moving to stand parallel with the headstone. He bowed his head in front of it.

“And Grandpa, I’d like to apologize for disobeying you. I hope that you aren’t too troubled- but I couldn’t go back to sleep even if I tried, now.” He stood back up again, and turned away to Aoba. The other man side-stepped over to him, giving a quick bow as well.

“I’ll look after him.” He muttered, unsure of what to say or do as it was. But Clear didn’t seem unsatisfied, so he went with it.

“And likewise, it’s my duty to watch over the both of them.” Ren piped in from down below.

“Yes! Under Ren-san’s watchful eye, Aoba-san and I will be just fine.” He nodded his head, looking back out to the city. Then, he walked past the grave, and towards the place where the hill’s slope began. He put his hands on his hips, puffing his chest out and looking over Midorijima like some kind of hero.  “Aoba-san, do you remember the way to the park that we passed on the way here? The one with the swings?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Aoba asked. It hadn’t been too far off from where the wild grass started, and the city ended. It wouldn’t be hard to find if they just retraced their steps.

And then, out of the blue, Clear took off. The android was at a dead sprint down the hill, and Aoba watched a blue ball of fur take off in hot pursuit. Aoba squawked as the pair flew away past the edge of the hill. He scrambled, trying to chase after them.

“Clear, Ren! Where are you two going?!” He shouted after them. Clear skidded to a halt, tripping and falling on all fours. Aoba ran down the steep descent of the hill, where the android waited with grass stains all over his clothing. Ren stood ready by their sides as well, better able to control the balance of his small body. “What are you doing?” He shot at the android while he collected himself off of the ground.

“Ah, I wanted to go to the park, Aoba-san. There’s a swing set there, and when I saw it, I noticed that I’ve never been on one before!” He explained himself, brushing the grass from his coat. “I said that I want to make as many memories as possible with you now, I wanted to hurry up and get there.”

Aoba tutted, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, you don’t have to take off like that and risk getting hurt.” He scolded. Then, he sighed, and grinned at the android. “Besides. Trust me, we have plenty of time to spare. Don’t worry.” He assured the other man. Clear nodded his head, looking embarrassed of himself. Aoba pat his back with one of his palms. Then, he led Clear down the hill with him, Ren close behind them both. They were left to stand in the grass, where Aoba stopped. Clear paused with him, blinking.

“Actually, I don’t think that’s such a bad idea.” He stated. He bared his teeth in a mischievous grin, one eyebrow raised. “Race you!”

Aoba took off, moving just as quickly as Clear had before. The man was left spluttering behind him, trying to gather his bearings fast enough to catch up. Aoba led the way as the other two chased after him, his ponytail bouncing behind every time his feet thudded against the ground.

“Aoba-san, wait, that’s not fair!” Clear cried, sprinting to try and catch up. Aoba never slowed down, hopping over scrap metal that had long since been embedded in the earth. He laughed, pumping his arms.

“Oh yeah? You’re the one who gave me these legs, now you’re jealous when I’m using them!” He cackled. Clear’s laughter drifted up from behind him, and the android only made himself move faster to catch up with him. They’d both get tired out before they made any real ground, but moving slowly the rest of the way would be worth it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Fun fact: This is the only chapter that made me cry as the author. That part where Aoba takes off in a sprint? Yeah, I started sobbing because I remembered writing him while he was trying his very best just to wobble his poor way down the stairs. It destroyed me to write this. Last chapter is next Wednesday.... I'm not sure if I'm ready for this journey to end, holy shit, I've gotten so much recognition and lovely comments from this fic it's unbelievable. I'll probably write a really big schmoopy thank you at the end of the next chapter, but for now, thanks again for reading this far.


	19. Diamonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it.

“Happy birthday, Aoba-san!”

 

Aoba jumped. A loud pop was followed by a stream of confetti floating in front of his face. Clear had pulled a party popper from inside of his coat just as Aoba’s birthday cake was laid out on the table. His grandmother grunted at the loud noise, and Koujaku sat with a smile hidden behind his hand across the table. Ren and Beni peeped up at the humans from the floor. Mizuki had been invited as well, but unfortunately he’d been booked out doing tattoos at the shop. Instead, he’d offered to take him out to dinner or buy him a gift in return for missing out.

“Geez, you scared me with that thing!” Aoba told the android. Clear quickly shoved what remained of the popper back into the endless confines of his coat pocket.

“Sorry, Aoba-san.” He apologized. Aoba tousled his fluff of white hair. After what would have been running close to the third year of going without a trim, Aoba knew that his own hair was no match for his amateur skills with scissors. Koujaku acted as if he’d woken in heaven weeks prior when his childhood friend confessed that he needed a haircut, and if anyone could be trusted enough with the job, it’d be him. So, finally his hair was back to sitting just below the shoulders, where it didn’t get stuck in his pants every time he pulled them up.

“It’s fine.” He waved off Clear’s worry, focusing on his cake. His grandmother and Clear had agreed after some squabble to bake it together, or rather, the woman focused on the cake, and Clear made decoration his priority. More or less, it looked like something from a high-class bakery he’d only visited once before. That was a white day he wouldn’t soon forget, but he wasn’t about to think on it too much on his own birthday. The year before the occasion passed just days after coming home, and it came and went in relative silence. Now, he felt well enough to really enjoy himself.

“Ah, that’s right, candles! I almost forgot.” Clear went pilfering into his coat again, pulling out a handful of sticks. Aoba sat back and watched him stick them into the icing, one by one.

“Haa... Just how many are you going to put in there?” Aoba questioned as he counted the seventh going in. Clear pushed an eighth into the icing.

“You’re twenty-six today, aren’t you Aoba-san? That means that your birthday cake should have just as many candles on it, right?” He paused between the eighth and ninth, looking over to Aoba for confirmation. Aoba raised one of his hands up.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to.” He paused. “I mean, more candles means more holes in all the hard work into what you and granny put so much hard work into making, right?” He added.

Clear nodded, pulling out a matchbook this time. He lit the candles up one by one, little flames igniting in the wicks on each end. Koujaku piped in from the other side of the table.

“You’ve gotta make a wish, right? Tell us what it’s gonna be!” He egged Aoba on. The birthday boy turned up his nose at him like a child.

“If I told you, then there’d be no chance of it coming true, now would there?” He teased back. He did think for a moment, however, staring down at the candles. He could wish for anything, after all. For money, to travel, for something big and fancy that no wish could ever get him. But, one thing popped into his mind, and he closed his eyes. He puffed air over the candles, blowing out the fire so hot wax could drip down into the icing.

“Good, now let’s cut the thing already.” His grandmother noted, standing again with a knife and a stack of plates in the middle of the table. Aoba scooted back out of the way for her to cut slices out of the cake, moist and yellow underneath the colorful icing. Once everyone had their piece, Tae turned around and moved the cake back onto the countertop. During which time Koujaku stole a moment to hand a forkful of the sweet stuff down to his allmate. Beni was one of the occasional allmates that could also run on human food, so he hopped over and snatched up his share of the sweet.

The woman turned back around, and a colorful box took the place of the cake. “Happy Birthday, Aoba.” She told him, the usual grumble leaving her voice just for a moment. Aoba took the box, holding it in both hands carefully.

“Ah- thanks Granny!” He exclaimed as he started to tear away the stick-on ribbon. He peeled back the paper, and a flash of pink met him behind plastic on the inside. Through the box’s thin window, there was a set of pink headphones- an updated model of the ones that had been tossed out with the rest of his belongings. He lit up, turning the box over and scanning the description on the other side. “Ah- they’re just like the other ones I had!”

His grandmother nodded. “You’ve broken at least twenty pairs of the little ones that go into your ears, so I thought I’d step in and get you another good pair.” She huffed. Aoba laughed, however, knowing full well that she cared. He made a beeline for his birthday cake, when there was a thud on the other side of the table. Koujaku had brought down a bottle of liquor on the table, a round container with twine mesh around the upper half of the bulb. Aoba blinked, about to reprimand him for trying to start drinking in the middle of the afternoon, but then the bottle was pushed towards him.

“I thought you’d like this.” His friend told him. “The flavor of it isn’t too bitter, so if you want to drink it later or something, that’d be fine.” Koujaku looked slightly embarrassed, but again, Aoba met him with laughter. He took the bottle by the neck, sitting it next to the pair of headphones.

“Thanks, I’m sure I’ll like it.” He said gratefully. Before he could move any more though, there was a tapping at his leg. He’d finally bought pants that fit after a while, so his calves weren’t left out in the cold. Aoba peered underneath of the table and saw blue eyes staring back at him. Ren was at his feet, holding some kind of card in his mouth. He lifted his partner up into his lap, taking the card. “...This is a voucher for one free massage.” He read aloud. The message was sealed with a tiny paw print. Not Ren’s of course, but it was a sweet touch that made his heart swell up. He hugged the allmate close, vigorously ruffling the pup’s fur.

“Happy Birthday, Aoba.” The small allmate told him. “It isn’t much, but it’s the least that I could offer. I’m very grateful to have you here- if you hadn’t found me, I might not be here myself. Thank you.” He told his partner, and Aoba grinned at him.

“Thanks, Ren.” Aoba thanked him back. The allmate wiggled around in his grasp, and Aoba set him back down on the floor to return to the other side where his avian companion was pecking up cake. Just as Aoba was about to do the same, he was faced with one final interruption. From beside him, Clear had pulled out a small box from his pocket, wrapped with a hand-tied bow laced around the sides. It almost looked like a decoration.

“Ah- I got you something too, Aoba-san.” He murmured bashfully, never making eye contact as Aoba took the gift from his hands.

Aoba smiled, stroking the box with his thumbs. “You really didn’t have to. None of you had to, I mean-”

“But Aoba-san, it’s your birthday! And we all care about you, so if giving you a gift is just one way to show that we care, then I think that it’s important!” Clear insisted. From the other ends of the table, Koujaku and his grandmother both nodded their heads.

So, Aoba turned and held the box in front of himself, untying the ribbon and placing it down on the table. Underneath the packaging was one more small box underneath. He pulled the lid off, and blinked at the object inside. At first he had to think about what it was, but upon picking it up and seeing the letters on the right and left sides, it made sense.

“Contacts...?” He questioned. Beside him, Clear gave an enthusiastic nod. Aoba turned the cap on the left side, and sitting in a tiny puddle of solution, there was a round contact lens. It was a golden hazel color, and Aoba recognized it as something very similar to what his original eye color had been. He smiled, but didn’t move to put it in. “Clear, this is great, but do you think that normal contacts will work in my eye?”

“They aren’t normal!” Clear informed him. “I have a friend who used special contacts, and when I mentioned that I wished that I could find some that would work for you, he told me where I could find someone that would be able to make them. I tried the right one in myself, so they should fit just right. Go ahead, put it in!” He bounced up and down like he was the one getting the present. Aoba cocked an eyebrow.

“A friend? Who would that be?” He asked. So far as Aoba knew, Clear didn’t know anybody that wore contacts. Or rather, if he did, it had never come up in conversation between them before. But then, Clear could very well have friends of his own that he’d never met.

“I wish I could say, but I promised him I’d keep it a secret. He lives pretty far away, now. Let’s just say that he’s my pen-pal.” Clear insisted. Aoba took his word, and lifted the lens onto the tip of his finger. He had no physical idea how to insert a contact lens, so he did his best, thankful for the dulled sensation this eye provided. With some effort he managed to work it in, settling the lens over his eye.

“How’s it look?” He asked, blinking several times.

“The same as it was!” Koujaku replied, being the one directly across from him. “I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.” At his side, Beni popped up, and Koujaku lifted Ren off of the ground so that he could look as well.

“It does!” The sparrow piped in, bits of icing still stuck in his feathers.

“It’s very natural-looking, Aoba. The color suits you very well.” Ren told him, and Aoba smiled. He hadn’t yet seen them for himself, but he felt confident in the lens already. He turned to his grandmother and blinked, and she replied only with a short nod. Finally, he looked back to Clear. For the first time in a year, their eyes were unmatching, completely different in external appearance as they met. Clear clapped his hands together, his eye lighting up with stars.

“It’s perfect, Aoba-san!” He beamed. “Is it comfortable? I mean, do you like it? I thought about getting a glass eye to go with it too, but I wasn’t sure if-”

“Clear. I love it.” Aoba told him sincerely. “And don’t worry about glass eyes or anything yet. I look scary enough with the eyepatch that nobody wants to mess with me- and I’m attached. But thank you, I mean it.” With that, Aoba was finally able to find the sweetness of his birthday cake before it grew stale from sitting out. Clear gave another deep nod of his head, shoving cake into his mouth on the end of his fork.

The rest of his small get together flowed smoothly. For a moment, he wondered if he shouldn’t have thought to invite Noiz along. They’d formed some kind of friendship ever since their rematch, but bringing him and Koujaku anywhere within earshot of one another was sure to cause mayhem. So, he could have him over another time perhaps. But as they were, the six of them ate cake and dinner together, Aoba’s favorite- his grandmother’s meat and potato stew was amazing as always. He couldn’t have asked for anything more on his birthday than to be surrounded by the people that he loved. And, at the end of the night when his grandmother slipped him postcards that had come on his birthday over the years, it made the night perfect. He had the guise of the contacts to hide under when Clear asked why he looked as if he’d shed a tear.

So, with Koujaku heading home for the night and his grandmother cleaning the kitchen, Aoba found himself being tugged silently along at the bottom of the staircase by a gloved hand. He held fast though, standing with his feet planted on the bottom of the stairs while Clear insisted on going up. “Wait, I should help Granny clean up.” He argued, pulling towards the kitchen. However, the android tugged his sleeve persistently.

“It’s alright, it’s your birthday Aoba-san, relax. Just come upstairs with me, I have something else for you.” Clear explained. Aoba cocked his head to the side, budging just a little bit towards the wooden steps.

“What is it?” He asked. “Can’t you just give it to me now?”

“I can, Aoba-san, but not right here.” Clear emphasized, and Aoba suddenly made sense of what he was asking for. He allowed himself to be pulled up the stairs and to his bedroom, the door closing quietly behind them.

“Clear, granny’s home, are you sure you want to-”

“Yes. But only if you think we won’t get caught.” Clear cut him off. Aoba had to think seriously for a moment. Was it worth it? No, probably not. But was it his birthday, and was he able to convince himself that he deserved a treat? Yes, oooh yes.

“Sure. But we’ll have to hurry.” Aoba told him. Soon enough, Clear had guided him over to his bed, urging him to lay back with his ass on the edge and his feet on the floor. He had to prop himself up onto his elbows to see the android taking his zipper between his teeth, pulling it down ever-so-slowly so as to avoid making noise.

He’d certainly grown more confident in touching him, Aoba noticed. For the first few months, they didn’t become intimate with each other often, besides kissing and dry humping, and maybe a handjob tossed around here and there. When they did go all the way through, it was a little tough on both of them. Sometimes, they had to stop, because he or Clear became uncomfortable somewhere along the way. Aoba was fine with it- he understood that the memories wouldn’t go away for either of them, but nonetheless, he enjoyed intimacy and the good feelings over the bad one. After a while he’d also taken note that submission was Clear’s game, and Aoba respected that, but after some months he wanted a turn as well. Or, maybe it was a certain itchy voice inside of him that was craving it. Either way, he caught Clear by surprise with that shiny bullet he’d seen in the sex shop; and from then on there wasn’t any issue with switching roles. In fact, the ease and comfort of sex itself was eased after that incident. Now, they were both confident enough in themselves to do things like this even in such a risky situation.

But, with Clear’s lips kissing the head of his cock, Aoba’s thoughts were blown out of the water.

Clear slipped his pants and his underwear down to his ankles, his mouth wrapped tight around his shaft. Aoba watched the white fluff of hair move up and down, lips occasionally curling into a smile. He bit his own lip, suppressing a groan as heat pooled into the lower half of his body. He allowed for his eye to fall closed for a moment, until he felt that wet heat leave his cock. It was only half open again when he felt the warmth transferred to the cleft of his ass, licking between his hole and his balls. Aoba gasped, squirming at the feeling, and cursing under his breath as Clear’s slender fingers wrapped around his forgotten shaft. It was slicked with saliva and transparent beads of pre leaking out of his tip, allowing for the heat of Clear’s palm to spread across the wetness.  

The other man worked at him, mindful to keep the noise to a minimum while Aoba lay there, writhing in pleasure. He arched his back into the slick heat against his ass, feeling Clear’s nose bump against him every few moments. He gripped the sheets, hissing out what words he could. “C-clear, I’m cumming...!” He breathed. Seconds after his warning, he felt his balls tighten, and shooting strings of seed came flying onto his belly. It was all the Aoba could take to at least keep from letting out a long sigh, but he kept his quiet, breathing sharply through his nose as he came down from his high. Clear was lapping the seed off of his belly, and he flushed at the sight and feeling of it.

“Clear, hey-!” He gasped. The other man looked at him, tongue still sticking out. “You don’t have to... Do that.” Aoba grumbled.

“I apologize, Aoba-san. I just wanted to clean you off.” He said, though he still moved to wipe away the last drop with his tongue. “I’ve gotten used to the taste of it by now. I’d love to make you feel even better today, but I can’t with Tae-san here. But, tomorrow’s Friday, you can stay over at my house, and we can do whatever you’d like!”

Aoba sat up, pulling his pants back up from where they’d been peeled down. “Really? What if I wanted you to make me dinner and watch movies all night, and nothing else?”

“That would be just fine. Whateeever you like~” Clear chimed. He pecked Aoba’s cheek.

“Sounds good. You don’t want me to do you too?” Aoba asked.

“Not today, I’m fine. Thanks Aoba-san.” The android replied. However, he made an ‘o’ with his lips. “Oh- I really did have one more thing to give you. But, I was too embarrassed to give it to you at the table because... Well, I thought that everyone would laugh at me.” He told Aoba in a shy tone. Once again, he was off searching in the endless space of his pockets, stored full of umbrellas and matchbooks and whatever else he came across. But this time, he pulled out a simple box, unwrapped and unmarked. “I actually bought these, but I added the decoration on by myself. I just... I thought that it might be cute.” He babbled on. Aoba waited for him to finish speaking before he opened the box.

He pulled back the flaps of it, peeking inside. Laying in the bottom was a small black cloth, with a long, thin strap attached to it. With careful fingers Aoba lifted it from the container, holding it in his hand. It was a black eye patch, similar in style to the ones that the stereotypical pirate, or video game super-villain might wear. He’d never shown much interest in any besides the white medical variety, but upon flipping it over, Aoba immediately warmed up to it. Stitched into the patch was a pink heart, sewn in with red thread and held securely in place on top of the patch. He laughed, a warm smile pulling his lips back.

“It’s dumb, isn’t it?” Clear asked him, looking away to the floor. He looked back quickly though, as Aoba had removed his usual patch and started lacing over the new one. His lover’s jaw hung open a bit as it was finally secure around Aoba’s head.

“Well, does it look alright?” Aoba asked him. It was a snug fit, but he didn’t mind too much, worst case scenario the strap would need replaced.

“Oh, yes it does Aoba-san! So you really like it then?” Clear beamed. Aoba nodded, humming in agreement all the while. Then, he watched white gloves scramble up to Clear’s head. The white patch went flying off, it was soon replaced. “I guess now is the time to tell you then, I made one for me too!” He secured the eyepatch on with a snap, smiling triumphantly. “See? Now, we match!”

Aoba gawked at him for a second, staring at the cute patch laced over his eye socket. He snorted, and burst out laughing. Clear jumped, his confidence suddenly gone.

“Aaaah, Aoba-san, do I look stupid?” He questioned. Aoba pulled himself up from holding his sides, taking a deep breath.

“No, no. You look fine. I’m just laughing because you thought to make them match.” Aoba explained. Clear puffed his cheeks out in a pout, crossing his arms.

“What’s wrong with that? I just wanted to look cute together... I mean, with those contact lenses, now it isn’t as obvious when we’re around one another that it isn’t your real eye. My offer still stands on buying you a glass one if you want it.” Clear huffed. “I mean, with all of the crazy clothes that people around here wear, it’ll look normal.”

“I know it will. I’ll definitely wear it.” He turned, taking Clear’s face by one hand. He kissed the man on the lips, and he could feel heat beneath his palm as his cheeks lit up red. Aoba would never understand how he could go from giving him the eyes of a wild animal while pulling his zipper down, to blushing red as a beet from a kiss. He pulled back, met with that flushed face. “Thank you.”

Clear snuggled up to him, pulling him in close despite his embarrassment. “You’re welcome, Aoba-san. Thank you for being here with me.... Are you more comfortable now? I mean... Last year at this time you’d just learned to walk again. Does your body feel okay? And are you truly okay with me being here?”

Aoba tutted, and tapped Clear’s back with his fist. “Of course I am. My body’s fine, it’s been a year now, and now everything matches up. I won’t have to worry until I’m fifty and I have the hands of somebody who’s twenty-two. I’ll have to start wearing clothes like yours.” He nuzzled the man’s chest. “And as for being okay with you... Don’t doubt that. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if you weren’t here with me. You promised that we were going to make good memories together to cover up what happened in the past, and every day it gets better and better. I love you, Clear.”

The android listened to him carefully, returning the nuzzles against his forehead. “Thank you, Aoba-san. That’s all that I wanted to hear. I love you too... And I hope someday I can put a hundred candles on your birthday cake!”

Aoba laughed. “God, I’ll really have to worry about my arms and legs looking different than my body then. I might not be able to lift them! You’ll have to cart me around in a wheelchair!”

Clear pulled back from him, holding Aoba’s forearms in his hands. “And if you do, I’ll push you wherever you want to go! I’ll still be strong, so don’t you worry about a thing, Aoba-san!” He promised. Aoba continued to chuckle, wiggling out of his grasp and standing up.

“I trust you. But don’t complain when you’re carrying me and my wheelchair up a flight of stairs!” He teased. “Now come on, I’ve got that bottle of liquor downstairs that Koujaku left, I think the two of us should celebrate.”

Clear stood up, following him out. “But Aoba-san is such an awful drunk!”

“Really? You’re the one who told me that I don’t have to worry about a thing! I should be able to loosen up on my birthday, at least.” Aoba turned back to look at him, a mischevous grin on his face. “Or, since you’ve been working at delivery works long enough to earn some days off, why don’t we take it back to your house?” He cooed. He’d made steam roll out of Clear’s ears, his jaw quivering and his face flushed with so much blood it looked ready to burst. But the other man swallowed, grinned straight back, and threw open the bedroom door.

“Yes, please!”

They bumped shoulders as they ran down the stairs, mechanical legs in perfect time. Aoba could feel the silicone in his arm working to elbow Clear in the ribs, and feel his knees support his weight as he stood to laugh. He’d closed his eye just for one second, but he opened it back up, and absorbed the grinning, joyful face of the man that he cherished more than anything.

Nothing made him happier than to know that the eye looking back at him saw with exactly the same way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit. IT'S... IT'S OVER.... It's finally over. My babies are finally happy again. 
> 
> And here's where I must stop, look at you guys, and thank you all. Six thousand hits, 72,000 words, multiple gorgeous fanworks, tears and laughter later, it's come to an end. I never would have thought that this silly little au I thought up MONTHS ago would have gotten such a large amount of attention, and in such a short amount of time! I wrote this badboy in six weeks, and finished publication in eight. And I want to thank all of you for giving me the strength to power through, and the positivity and the comments and GOSH just everything. I had so much fun writing this fic, and after so many tries I finally finished and am satisfied with a big, long work. Just thank you so so sooosoososo much. I'm truly grateful to all of you. 
> 
> And, dry your tears, because the aefae verse has a little bit more to go! In the next week or so I'll be posting a oneshot prequel to the fic called Law of Babylon. It's focused around Clear, and some other characters that never appeared in the fic, and just what happened to make Clear sane again- and the process of recreating Aoba's body once again. THEN it'll truly be over. Thank you again, and see you next time :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks a bunch for taking the time to read! Since this is my first fic in a while I'd love to see a few reviews, but any kind of feedback is wonderful. I'll try to have the next chapter up within a few days!


End file.
